This panel report contains five main and three additional recommendations intended to help medical practitioners use CXR and CT in the management of COVID-19.

While mild cases of COVID-19 appear like other common upper respiratory viral infections, more severe cases involve respiratory dysfunction as the principal source of morbidity and mortality. Chest X-rays and computed tomography (CT) are useful tools for pulmonary disease diagnosis and management, but their role in the management of COVID-19 is not well understood. We do not have solid data on pre-test probability, risk factors for disease progression, and critical resource constraints.

This multidisciplinary panel of radiologists and pulmonologists from 10 countries with experience managing COVID-19 patients evaluated the utility of imaging in 3 scenarios over a variety of risk factors, community conditions, and resource constraints. They answered 14 key questions, corresponding to 11 decision points within the 3 scenarios and 3 additional clinical situations.