- To decrease the risk of spread of the virus, the use of portable radiographic equipment should be prioritized.
- Surgical mask should be worn by all patients who need to be taken to the radiology department.
- Satellite radiography center as well as dedicated radiographic equipment could reduce the risk of transmission as seen with the SARS.
- The Spaulding classification of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and FDA recommend the following surfaces should be washed with either soaps and water of decontaminated using a low-level or intermediated level disinfectant; CT and MR machine gantries, non-invasive ultrasound probes, blood pressure cuffs, and image viewing station mice and keyboards.
This review, based on the WHO and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommendations, discusses the strict measures and precautions to be taken by the radiology department staff when dealing with suspected or diagnosed patients with the new SARS-CoV2. To prevent the spread of this new virus in order to protect the department personnel, a rigorous plan in the radiology department is needed.
Source:
Kooraki S., Hosseiny M., Myers L., Gholamrezanezhad A., Coranavirus (COVID-10) Outbreak: What the Department of Radiology Should Know (April 2020) Journal of the American College of Radiology. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jacr.2020.02.008