Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Trauma CT Imaging

Figure 1

(a) Timeline of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Manitoba. Period 1: a prepandemic month in 2019 (March); Period 2: a prepandemic month in 2019 (Nov); Period 3: a 1-month period during the 1st COVID-19 lockdown period in 2020(March); Period 4: A 1-month period during the 2nd lockdown in 2020 (Nov) (Figure 1(a)). We matched the same month during prepandemic control due to a known seasonal variability on CT volume (winter road conditions, ice, and snow). (b) The flowchart depicting the process of a total of 962 trauma patients selected in our study. The demographics and subtypes of scans were collected via the PACS system. (c) The comparison of total elective CT scans and STAT CT cases including emergency and inpatient cases in our level 1 trauma center during two COVID-19 lockdown periods in 2020 and corresponding prepandemic periods in 2019, was made using χ2 test (Chi-square analysis). value refers to a relative portion of STAT cases to total CT cases.

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