Mobile computed tomography for the efficient allocation of medical resources in patients with COVID-19 pneumonia: A case report

RATIONALE: The highly contagious Coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) infection raise social and economic burden. Medical staff and resources are being diverted for the care of patients with COVID-19. There are problems for healthcare systems, including burnout syndrome for the medical staff and exhaustion of medical resources. PATIENT CONCERNS: The patient was a 65-year-old woman presenting with fever, cough, and dyspnea due to COVID-19 pneumonia. She received antiviral agents, broad-spectrum antibiotics, and conservative treatment. Although her clinical condition improved, there was no significant improvement in portable chest X-ray results. DIAGNOSES: Due to concerns over the propagation of infection when transferring to patients for scanning and the need for excessive medical personnel to move patients, we moved a mobile chest computed tomography (CT) machine to an isolation ward for CT scanning. INTERVENTIONS: We report our experience using mobile chest CT to effectively allocate medical resources and assess treatment response in patient with COVID-19 pneumonia. OUTCOMES: Follow-up mobile CT scans disclosed progressive resolution of the multifocal ground-glass opacities and mixed consolidations distributed peripheral to subpleural spaces. During the mobile chest CT scan, there were no adverse or unforeseen events. Three medical personnel were required to performed mobile chest CT, including a clinician, a nurse, and a radiologist. LESSONS: As a result of using mobile chest CT on COVID-19 patients, the number of medical personnel required for CT scanning decreased by about 83%, rapid, and safe compared with a patient who performed conventional CT.