Clinical PET/CT utilization during the COVID-19 pandemic: initial experience at Yale University

To determine temporal changes in PET/CT utilization during the COVID-19 pandemic and examine the impact of epidemiologic, demographic and oncologic factors on PET/CT utilization.

Clinical PET-CT utilization between 1 January 2020 and 15 June 2020 at a tertiary academic center was assessed using change-point-detection (CPD) analysis. COVID-19 epidemiologic trend was obtained from Connecticut Department of Public Health records. Demographic and oncologic data were gathered from electronic medical records and PET-CT scans by four reviewers in consensus.

A total of 1685 cases were reviewed. CPD analysis identified five distinct phases of PET-CT utilization during COVID-19, with a sharp decline and a gradual recovery. There was a 62.5% decline in case volumes at the nadir. These changes correlated with COVID-19 epidemiologic changes in the state of Connecticut, with a negative correlation between COVID-19 cases and PET-CT utilization (τ = -0.54; P value < 0.001). Statistically significant differences in age, race, cancer type and current and prior scan positivity were observed in these five phases. A greater percentage of young patients and minorities were scanned during the pandemic relative to baseline. PET/CT scanning was less impacted for hematologic malignancies than for solid cancers, with less profound decline and better recovery.

PET-CT cancer imaging was vulnerable to the COVID-19 pandemic at our institution. Epidemiologic, demographic and oncologic factors affected PET-CT utilization.