COVID-19 Impact on Vascular Surgery Practice: Experience From an Italian University Regional Hub Center for Vascular Pathology.

Ann Vasc Surg

Vascular and Endovascular Surgery Unit, Ospedale Policlinico San Martino - IRCCS, Genoa, Italy; Department of Surgical Sciences and Integrated Diagnostic (DISC), University of Genoa, Genoa, Italy.

Published: July 2021

Background: The aim of the study is to evaluate the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on vascular surgery practice in a regional hub center for complex vascular disease.

Methods: This is an observational single-center study in which we collected clinical and surgical data during (P1) and after (P2) the COVID-19 outbreak and the lockdown measures implemented in Northern Italy. We compared those data with the two-month period before the pandemic (P0).

Results: Compared to P0, ambulatory activities were severely reduced during P1 and limited to hospitalized patients and outpatients with urgent criteria. We performed 61 operations (18 urgent and 43 elective), with a decrease in both aortic (-17.8%), cerebrovascular (-53.3%), and peripheral artery (-42.6%) disease treatments. We also observed a greater drop in open procedures (-53.2%) than in endovascular ones (-22%). All the elective patients were treated for notdeferrable conditions and they were COVID-19 negative at the ward admission screening; despite this one of them developed COVID19 during the hospital stay. Four COVID-19 positive patients were treated in urgent setting for acute limb ischemia. Throughout P2 we gradually rescheduled elective ambulatory (+155.5%) and surgical (+18%) activities, while remaining substantially lower than during P0 (respectively -45.6% and -25.7%).

Conclusions: Despite COVID-19 pandemic, our experience shows that with careful patient's selection, dedicated prehospitalization protocol and proper use of personal protective equipment it is possible to guarantee continuity of care.

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Source
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7862030PMC
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.avsg.2021.01.072DOI Listing

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