AUTHOR=Emil-Marian Arbănași , Reka Kaller , Vasile Adrian Mureșan , Septimiu Voidăzan , Eliza-Mihaela Arbănași , Eliza Russu 

TITLE=Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on Vascular Surgery Unit activity in Central Romania

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Surgery

VOLUME=Volume 9 - 2022

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/surgery/articles/10.3389/fsurg.2022.883935

DOI=10.3389/fsurg.2022.883935

ISSN=2296-875X

ABSTRACT=The COVID-19 outbreak has placed substantial pressure on the medical systems worldwide. This study aimed to investigate the influence of the pre-pandemic vs. the pandemic period on the activity of the Vascular Surgery Unit of a large Emergency Hospital in Eastern Europe. We performed a retrospective review of the vascular surgery cases admitted, comparing the statistics from the two time periods. We examined data on a total of 1693 patients over the two periods. We report a 34.51% decrease in the surgical procedures performed during the pandemic period, with a disproportionate number of 80.6% decrease in the number of cases admitted with a diagnosis of venous insufficiency diagnosis and an increase of 67.21% in the number of patients admitted with acute arterial ischemia. Furthermore, individuals not classed as emergencies were delayed or denied surgical care. The number of non-urgent procedures conducted by our Vascular Surgery Unit decreased significantly, whereas the number of emergencies surgeries increased. COVID-19's effect is projected to have a long-term impact on how surgical treatments are provided in Romania.