Significant Need

CT scanning has proven essential in the diagnosis and management of COVID-19. Before a rapid PCR test was available for SARS-CoV-2, CT was the primary diagnostic test used in diagnosing COVID-19. The widely-used PCR test for SARS-CoV-2 is imperfect, and false negatives are common; CT scanning is useful in identifying COVID patients who test negative by nasal swab. Yet multiple barriers limit the use of CT scanning in COVID:

  1. Use of CT-scanners by COVID patients requires a 1-hour decontamination, limiting use for other patients and diagnostic purposes;

  2. Most hospitals and clinics do not have enough CT scanners to meet the growing needs of COVID-infected populations

  3. Once admitted to the ICU, COVID patients should not be transported through the hospital, as this exposes other patients and healthcare workers to SARS-CoV-2;

  4. Current portable imaging technologies (e.g. plain film x-rays) are inadequate for diagnosis and prognostication of critically ill COVID patients. We need a portable, deployable CT scanner to provider 3-dimensional imaging of critically ill COVID patients, both for diagnosis and for identifying patients at high risk of respiratory collapse or failure to recover while receiving mechanical ventilation.

Solution

A portable, low-dose (radiation) CT scanner that will provide bedside 3D imaging of the lungs of critically ill COVID patients and be rapidly deployable for surge planning (field hospitals and pop-up fever clinics).

Competitive Advantage

Surge planning: Our scanner would be rapidly deployable when additional clinics or field hospitals are needed to meet pandemic needs. Conventional CT scanners require dedicated infrastructure (thickened walls and reinforced floors) that preclude rapid deployment). Our scanners could be stockpiled and rapidly deployed to accommodate the anatomic imaging needs of at-risk and critically ill patients.

 Bedside imaging:  Our scanner will provide clinicians with 3D imaging of patient lungs without removing them from the ICU. This imaging, far more informative than conventional x-rays, will aid physicians in 1) diagnosis of COVID, 2) short-term prognosis (which stable patients have high burden of lung injury and will require life support) and 3) long-term prognosis (which patients receiving mechanical ventilation will be safely extubated, and which will require prolonged mechanical ventilation). The availability of bedside CT scans will be safer for COVID patients (who do not need to be transported through the hospital) and other patients and staff (who will not be exposed to COVID+ patients being transported for scans).

Another benefit is that the portable CT scanners can be stockpiled and rapidly deployed in many situations.

If you're interested in supporting work on this project or in this area, contact the Max Harry Weil Institute for Critical Care Research and Innovation.