THE USE OF IMAGING EXAMINATIONS AS A FORM OF MONITORING PATIENTS WITH COVID- 19: REVIEW ARTICLE.

Abstract

The current pandemic of the new variant coronavirus began in December 2019, following a declaration by the World Health Organization that declared a global public health emergency. The COVID-19 virus has as its main complication the lungs, renal and cardiac complications, in this way the use of imaging exams for monitoring the evolution of the disease has been widely used for this patient evaluation. The aim of the present paper is to demonstrate how the use of imaging exams can help in the monitoring of COVID-19 in patients affected by the disease. Bibliographic research of the period 2015-2021 in the databases, GOOGLE Academic, Virtual Health Library (VHL) and Scientic Eletronic Libery Online (SciELO), LILACS. Twelve scientific articles linked to the area were selected, and the choice was made by reading their abstracts and the articles' research questions, as well as by searching for the following keywords: "COVID- 19"; "Computed Tomography", "Imaging Tests", "Coronavirus" and "Symptomatology", with the crossing performed through the Boolean operator "and". The current variant of the coronavirus has become a constant in the world reality as its spread has reached pandemic level. The current researches show that vaccination and the use of PPE are the main ways to prevent the spread of the disease and thus avoid more deaths and overcrowding in hospitals. The qualification of radiology professionals becomes fundamental for a better interpretation of imaging exams, providing a better control and care of the patient.