Surprise diagnosis of COVID-19 following neuroimaging evaluation for unrelated reasons during the pandemic in hot spots

Abstract

During the height of the recent outbreak of coronavirus 19 (COVID-19) in New York City, almost all the hospital emergency departments were inundated with patients with COVID-19, who presented with typical fever, cough, and dyspnea. A small number of patients also presented with either unrelated conditions (such as trauma) or other emergencies, and some of which are now known to be associated with COVID-19 (such as stroke). We report such a scenario in 17 patients who were admitted and investigated with CT spine imaging and CT angiography for nonpulmonary reasons (trauma= 13, stroke= 4). Their initial work-up did not suggest COVID-19 as a diagnosis but showed unsuspected/incidental lung findings, which led to further investigations and a diagnosis of COVID-19.