COVID-19 and vaccination impact on radiology departments provided by Dose Archiving and Communication System

OBJECTIVES: To study the impact of COVID-19 on chest CT practice during the different waves using Dose Archiving and Communication System (DACS). METHODS: Retrospective study including data from 86,136 chest CT acquisitions from 27 radiology centers (15 private; 12 public) between January 1, 2020, and October 13, 2021, using a centralized DACS. Daily chest CT activity and dosimetry information such as dose length product (DLP), computed tomography dose index (CTDI), and acquisition parameters were collected. Pandemic indicators (daily tests performed, incidence, and hospital admissions) and vaccination rates were collected from a governmental open-data platform. Descriptive statistics and correlation analysis were performed. RESULTS: For the first two waves, strong positive and significant correlations were found between all pandemic indicators and total chest CT activity, as high as R = 0.7984 between daily chest CT activity and hospital admissions during the second wave (p < 0.0001). We found differences between public hospitals and private imaging centers during the first wave, with private centers demonstrating a negative correlation between daily chest CT activity and hospital admissions (−0.2819, p = 0.0019). Throughout the third wave, simultaneously with the rise of vaccination rates, total chest CT activity decreased with significant negative correlations with pandemic indicators, such as R = −0.7939 between daily chest CTs and daily incidence (p < 0.0001). Finally, less than 5% of all analyzed chest CTs could be considered as low dose. CONCLUSIONS: During the first waves, COVID-19 had a strong impact on chest CT practice which was lost with the arrival of vaccination. Low-dose protocols remained marginal. KEY POINTS: • There was a significant correlation between the number of daily chest CTs and pandemic indicators throughout the first two waves. It was lost during the third wave due to vaccination arrival. • Differences were observed between public and private centers, especially during the first wave, less during the second, and were lost during the third. • During the first three waves of COVID-19 pandemic, few CT helical acquisitions could be considered as low dose with only 3.8% of the acquisitions according to CTDIvol and 4.3% according to DLP. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s00330-023-09426-1.