key: cord-0747209-dmaatzjc
authors: Kooraki, Soheil; Hosseiny, Melina; Myers, Lee; Gholamrezanezhad, Ali
title: Re: Ventilation-perfusion Scans During the Coronavirus (COVID-19) Outbreak
date: 2020-04-10
journal: J Am Coll Radiol
DOI: 10.1016/j.jacr.2020.03.028
sha: 22abfa01de095963d77ccc2214b05055d1eec1f8
doc_id: 747209
cord_uid: dmaatzjc

nan

In complete agreement with the authors, the potential effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the nuclear medicine departments needs to be addressed, as the nuclear medicine department staff are at high-risk of exposure to COVID-19. In addition, contamination of the department equipment can initiate an outbreak within the healthcare facility. The virus is highly contagious with the main route of transmission being respiratory droplets. All the personnel should follow the recommended PPE for COVID-19 pneumonia, which includes N95 respirator or higher, medical mask, apron, gown, gloves and eye protection with googles. Fourth, creating a negative airway pressure in the procedure room relative to the hallway is desirable. Finally, the scanner, the procedure equipment, the procedure room surfaces, and the viewing station should be decontaminated immediately after patient encounter by professional environmental services staff. [5] In summary, limiting the acquisition of pulmonary V/Q scan, elimination of the ventilation phase of the scan, appropriate use of PPE by all department staff, the use of negative airway pressure in the procedure room and thorough decontamination of the procedure room after each V/Q scan can help the nuclear medicine department to minimize the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the staff, the equipment and the healthcare facility.

Coronavirus (COVID-19) Outbreak: What the Department of Radiology Should Know

Radiology Perspective of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19): Lessons From Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome

COVID-19 and Ventilation/Perfusion (V/Q) Lung Studies

COVID19 -Nuclear Medicine Departments, be prepared

The authors declare that they had full access to all of the data in this study and the authors take complete responsibility for the integrity of the data and the accuracy of the data analysis. The authors did not have any conflict of interest.