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. 2021:8:100319.
doi: 10.1016/j.ejro.2020.100319. Epub 2020 Dec 26.

Cardiac magnetic resonance imaging during the COVID-19 pandemic: A southern Italian single-center experience

Andrea Ponsiglione  1 , Carmela Nappi  1 , Massimo Imbriaco  1 , Raffaele Ascione  1 , Rosario Megna  2 , Mario Petretta  3 , Alberto Cuocolo  1
Affiliations

Cardiac magnetic resonance imaging during the COVID-19 pandemic: A southern Italian single-center experience

Andrea Ponsiglione et al. Eur J Radiol Open. 2021.

Abstract

Purpose: We aimed to assess the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) imaging studies performed during the lockdown imposed by the Italian Government from March 2020 to May 2020.

Materials and method: We reviewed the number and the findings of CMR scans performed during the COVID-19 pandemic between March and May 2020 at University of Naples Federico II. The number and the findings of CMR studies acquired in the corresponding months of 2017, 2018 and 2019 were also assessed for direct comparison.

Results: A total of 117 CMR studies was considered, including the procedures performed during the pandemic (n = 18) and those performed in the corresponding months of the prior 3 years (n = 99). The number of CMR studies performed during the COVID-19 pandemic was significantly (P < .01) lower compared to the mean number (n = 33) of the procedures performed in the corresponding months of 2017-2019. The percentage of abnormal CMR studies was similar (P = 0.73) during the pandemic (67 %) compared to that found in the corresponding months of 2017-2019 (70 %) suggesting that many abnormal tests were missed due to the lockdown.

Conclusion: The number of CMR studies was significantly reduced during the COVID-19 pandemic compared to the corresponding period of the previous three years. The lack of difference in the prevalence of abnormal CMR studies between the two study time intervals strongly suggests that many patients with potentially abnormal imaging test have been missed during the pandemic.

Keywords: CMR, cardiac magnetic resonance; COVID-19; Cardiac magnetic resonance imaging; LGE, late gadolinium enhancement; SARS-CoV-2; STIR, short tau inversion recovery; Southern Italy.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Number of CMR procedures performed during COVID-19 pandemic and during corresponding months of 2017, 2018 and 2019.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Prevalence of normal and abnormal CMR tests across COVID-19 pandemic and corresponding months of 2017-2019.
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Prevalence of myocarditis evaluation tests across COVID-19 pandemic and corresponding months of 2017-2019, as compared to CMR tests performed to evaluate different clinical questions.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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