Table 1.
Comparison of chest CT and lung ultrasonography for evaluation COVID-19 pneumonia
| Chest CT |
| Advantages |
| Able to detect lung abnormalities that are typical of COVID-19 pneumonia |
| Able to detect abnormalities that do not extend to pleural surface |
| Able to image the mediastinum |
| Images easy to store and review |
| Image acquisition not operator dependent |
| Disadvantages |
| Requires transportation of critically ill patient to CT scanner with patient risk, resource allocation, and danger of viral transmission |
| Requires radiation exposure: depending on patient-related factors and scanning protocol typical effective whole body dose is 7 mSv (by way of comparison standard chest radiography is 0.1 mSv) |
| Is not practical for serial evaluation of disease activity |
| Image interpretation operator dependent optimally requiring radiology consultant with a high level of training |
| Lung ultrasonography |
| Advantages |
| Able to detect lung abnormalities that are typical of COVID-19 pneumonia |
| Strong descriptive literature supporting its use |
| Readily integrated into a whole-body ultrasonography examination (cardiac, venous, abdominal, guidance of procedures) |
| No delay in application of results to the clinical situation |
| Utilizes low-cost ICU-based multipurpose portable machine |
| No patient transport to scanning site and no radiation exposure |
| Rapid performance; requires a few minutes to perform |
| Suitable for repeated serial assessment of disease activity |
| Disadvantages |
| Not able to detect lung abnormalities that are surrounded by aerated lung, mediastinal abnormality, or pulmonary embolism |
| Difficult to review image set |
| Image acquisition and interpretation operator dependent |