ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a worldwide significant drop of admissions to the emergency department (ED). The aim of the study was to retrospectively investigate the pandemic impact on ED admissions, management, and severity of three abdominal emergencies (appendicitis, diverticulitis, and cholecystitis) during the COVID-19 pandemic using 2017-2019 data as a control. The difference in clinical and pathological disease severity was the primary outcome measure while differences in (i) ED admissions, (ii) triage urgency codes, and (iii) surgical rates were the second ones. Overall, ED admissions for the selected conditions decreased by 34.9% during the pandemic (control: 996, 2020: 648) and lower triage urgency codes were assigned for cholecystitis (control: 170/556, 2020: 66/356, p < 0.001) and appendicitis (control: 40/178, 2020: 21/157, p = 0.031). Less surgical procedures were performed in 2020 (control: 447, 2020: 309), but the surgical rate was stable (47.7% in 2020 vs. 44.8% in 2017-2019). Considering the clinical and pathological assessments, a higher percentage of severe cases was observed in the four pandemic peak months of 2020 (control: 98/192, 2020: 87/109; p < 0.001 and control: 105/192, 2020: 87/109; p < 0.001). For the first time in this study, pathological findings objectively demonstrated an increased disease severity of the analyzed conditions during the early COVID-19 pandemic.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Italy was severely affected by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 pandemic. Our Institution, Piedmont's largest tertiary referral center, was designated as a non-COVID-19 hospital and activities were reorganized to prioritize critical services like oncological care. The aim of this study was to investigate the efficacy in preserving the oncological surgical practice at our Institution during the most critical months of the COVID-19 epidemic by analyzing the surgical pathology activity. METHODS: The number of oncological surgical resections submitted to histopathological examination from 9th March 2020 to 8th May 2020 were collected as well staging/grading data and compared with the previous three pre-COVID-19 years (2017-2019). RESULTS: Overall, no decrease was observed for most tumor sites (5/9) while breast resections showed the largest drop (109 vs. 160; -31.9%), although a full recovery was already noticed during the second half of the period. Conversely, the selected control benchmarks showed a sharp decrease (-80.4%). Distribution of pathological TNM stages (or tumor grades for central nervous system tumors) showed no significant differences during the lockdown compared with previous years (p > .05). CONCLUSIONS: The present data suggest the possibility of preserving this cornerstone oncological activity during an evolving public health emergency thanks to a prompt workflow reorganization.