Take out all the pictures and look at them with a different eye. At the Albert-Schweitzer hospital in Colmar (Haut-Rhin), the chief medical imaging doctor sifts through 2456 scanners performed between October 15 and April 30 – and will soon tackle those of the first fortnight October. For Dr. Michel Schmitt, this is to identify what he calls “typical lung abnormalities caused by Covid-19”. And thus understand when, how and how quickly the disease spread, so that he can “do better next time, by reacting earlier.” “
Its first results (which will have to be confirmed) are very interesting in a region hit hard by the virus. The images highlight a first case from November 16, then a second. They mentioned 12 others in December and 16 in January, before a noticeable acceleration to the peak of the epidemic.
Next steps: conduct an epidemiological analysis, meet with the patients to retrace their history and thus see if contamination is plausible during this period when the virus was not officially circulating in France.
No use for minor patients
“This retrospective study is a great idea for understanding the spread of the disease,” said Professor Antoine Khalil, president of the Society of Chest Imaging. But, unless nasal or blood samples have been kept, it will be difficult to have absolute proof of the infection at that time. A serological test could confirm the presence of antibodies but not date their presence. “
This work confirms another fact: the world of imaging, little known to the general public, comes back to the fore with the coronavirus crisis. Radiologists, like Rodolphe Gombergh, believe that the chest scanner can help diagnose Covid-19 as soon as a patient experiences the first symptoms.
“We would like to say to ourselves: we have an exam and it is 100% reliable. Unfortunately, it is not so simple, tempers Professor Chantal Raherison-Semjen, president of the pulmonary society. Frosted glass lesions (inflammations visible in Covid-19 shots) are encountered in many diseases. The scanner is a tool, but not the panacea. “
