Following the Covid-19 virus pandemic, the use of CT has become increasingly important in the routine diagnostic activity. Pulmonary embolism is one of the possible complications associated with Covid-19 infection. The purpose of this study is to analyze the protocols currently used in our hospital and to optimize the technique to performing the CT exam. The ultimate goal is to have diagnostic images with the right dose.

The in-depth analysis of the current protocols used in our hospital has highlighted some critical issues that are indicated in red in Tables 1.A and 1.B. [Fig 17][Fig 18] Data acquisitions were performed on a CATPHAN T600 phantom and on a PMMA phantom simulating a chest. For the correctness and accuracy of the calculations, the phantom was positioned and centered by means of a level instrument and by means of the luminous centerers installed on the tomograph. The phantom was fixed to the table in...

Given the amount of information that the CATPHAN 600 phantom is able to provide (as opposed to the PMMA phantom which provides information exclusively related to image noise), part of the series carried out in CT 38 have been processed through QA Lite. The choice of taking into consideration the series acquired only by a scanner was dictated by the fact that, as previously mentioned, the data provided by the CT 38 and the CT 29 are almost completely superimposable. Of course, for the pulmonary...

The use of the iterative reconstruction technique, such as the Adaptive Statistical Iterative Reconstruction (ASIR) or SAFIRE (Sinogram affirmed Iterative Reconstruction), is mandatory. The use of dose modulation systems (e.g. Auto mA, smartmA, Care Dose 4D) is mandatory. A rotation time of less than 0.4s should be used if it is available in your scanner. This to obtain a reduction in the dose and a faster execution of the examination. A high pitch is recommended. Following the use of the contrast medium, the 80kVp protocol...

COVID-19 patients and the radiology department – advice from the European Society of Radiology (ESR) and the European Society of Thoracic Imaging (ESTI) - Marie-Pierre Revel1 & Anagha P. Parkar 2,3 & Helmut Prosch4 & Mario Silva5 & Nicola Sverzellati5 & Fergus Gleeson6 & Adrian Brady7 & on behalf of the European Society of Radiology (ESR) and the European Society of Thoracic Imaging (ESTI) - Received: 24 March 2020 / Revised: 1 April 2020 /Accepted: 2 April 2020 / Published online: 20 April 2020 -...

M. Gentile: Nothing to disclose A. Guidi: Nothing to disclose A. Fidanzio: Nothing to disclose A. Porcelli: Nothing to disclose L. Senes: Nothing to disclose L. Bonomo: Nothing to disclose A. R. Larici: Nothing to disclose C. Colosimo: Nothing to disclose