January 15, 2021 — In one of the first studies to examine the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on cancer diagnoses, researchers at Dana-Farber/Brigham and...
Coronavirus (COVID-19)
This page contains medical information for clinicians on the 2019 Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19, also called 2019-nCoV and now clinically SARS‐CoV‐2). This section includes articles on medical imaging of the virus for radiologists, new technologies being deployed to fight the virus and clinical information from various sources. Here are direct links for medical professionals to COVID-19 resources from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO). Daily world-wide statistics on the coronavirus outbreak are available from the WHO Situations Reports. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) frequently asked questions and answers (FAQs) for healthcare providers regarding Medicare payment for laboratory tests and other services related to the COVID-19.
See radiology images of How COVID-19 Appears on Medical Imaging.

More complex, longer interventional procedures such as structural heart interventions or this revascularization of a coronary chronic total occlusion (CTO) at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, requires angiography imaging systems that have improved image detail and lower radiation dose. However, purchase of new systems was put on hold by many hospitals in 2020 due to the sudden drop in elective procedures and diversion of resources due to the COVID-19. Photo by Dave Fornell.

Novel Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 Transmission electron micrograph of SARS-CoV-2 virus particles, isolated from a patient. Image captured and color-enhanced at the NIAID Integrated Research Facility (IRF) in Fort Detrick, Maryland. Image courtesy of National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIH)

Roberto Lang, M.D., director of noninvasive cardiac imaging, University of Chicago Medical Center and former American Society of Echocardiography (ASE) president, received his first dose of the COVID vaccine in December. In addition to front line hospital workers, nursing home staff and residents also qualified for the first round of vaccinations. Right, Shannon Yaw, OTR/L, director of rehabilitation at a hard-hit nursing home in Michigan, received her first dose just before Christmas. nurse at a hard-hit nursing home in Michigan, received her first dose just before Christmas.

The top two videos on ITN for the year both involved medical imaging of COVID using point of care ultrasound (POCUS) and mass movement to teleradiology to enable remote working for radiologists and virtual collaboration with referring physicians. The image on the left is Butterfly's POCUS system that turns a smart phone into an ultrasound machine and the image is of COVID B-lines in the lung. The image on the right is a CT scan of COVID pneumonia.

A recent Johns Hopkins Medicine study uses a computer model to predict the number of COVID-19 infections among health care workers in four different scenarios based on data from early in the pandemic. Graphic created by M.E. Newman, Johns Hopkins Medicine, from data in Razzak et al, PLOS ONE 15(12): e0242589

An MR image of a patient in their early 20s shows nerve injury (highlighted in yellow) of the left brachial plexus in the neck. The patient experienced left arm weakness and pain after recovering from COVID-19 respiratory illness, which prompted them to see their primary care physician. As a result of the MRI findings, the patient was referred to the COVID-19 neurology clinic for treatment. Image courtesy of Northwestern University