A Multicenter Survey on the Trend of Chest CT Scan Utilization: Tracing the First Footsteps of COVID-19 in Iran.

CONCLUSION: The observed peak in chest CT utilization in Month 3 prior to the surge in Month 6 could be explained by the seasonal influenza. However, unawareness about an emerging viral disease, i.e. COVID-19, might have underutilized chest CT in Months 4 and 5 before the official announcement in Month 6. The unbalanced increase in the workload of radiology departments in the shortage of cardiothoracic radiologists with the simultaneous decrease in income initiated a vicious cycle that worsened the economic repercussions of the pandemic.
PMID: 33220698 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

Source: Archives of Iranian Medicine - November 1, 2020 Category: Middle East Health Authors: Radmard AR, Gholamrezanezhad A, Montazeri SA, Kasaeian A, Nematollahy N, Molaee Langrudi R, Javad Rashid R, Dehghan A, Hekmatnia A, Shakourirad A, Pezeshki Rad M, Nafisi Moghadam R, Sharifian H, Enhesari A, Aalinezhad M, Jamalipour Soufi G, Shakibafard A, Tags: Arch Iran Med Source Type: research