Radiology department strategies to protect radiologic technologists against COVID19: Experience from Wuhan

Abstract

The outbreak of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a huge threat to global public health security. In the absence of specific antiviral medicines to prevent or treat COVID-19, it is essential to detect the infected patients at an early stage and immediately isolate them from the healthy population. In view of the advantages of sensitivity and high spatial resolution, CT imaging has played an important role in screening and diagnosing of COVID-19 in China. The radiologic technologists performing CT scans for the infected patients become high-risk medical care personnel. It is critical for the radiology department to ensure the personal safety of radiologic technologists and avoid cross-infection. In this review article, we describe the systematic strategies to combat COVID-19 from the radiology department in Tongji hospital in Wuhan, P.R. China, including personnel arrangements, environmental modification, protection levels and configurations, radiological imaging (CT and radiography), and disinfection methods. It can provide guidance to other radiology departments faced with COVID-19 to reduce infection risk for radiologic technologists.