Collateral effects of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic on oncologic surgery in Bavaria

BMC Surgery

Christian Krautz¹  Johannes Binder¹  Robert Grützmann¹  Helmut Friess²  Christian Stöß²  Carsten Jäger²  Alexander Dejaco³  Frank Brennfleck⁴  Thomas Dienemann⁴  Stefan M. Brunner⁴  Hans Jürgen Schlitt⁴ 

[1] Chirurgische Klinik, Universitätsklinikum Erlangen, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Erlangen, Germany;Department of Surgery, Klinikum rechts der Isar, School of Medicine, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany;Klinik für Anästhesiologie, Universitätsklinikum Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany;Klinik und Poliklinik für Chirurgie, Universitätsklinikum Regensburg, Franz-Josef-Strauß-Allee 11, 93053, Regensburg, Germany;

关键词: SARS-CoV-2;    COVID-19;    Oncologic surgery;    Oncology;    Patient care;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12893-021-01404-y

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundThe ongoing SARS-COV-2 pandemic has severe implications for people and healthcare systems everywhere. In Germany, worry about the consequences of the pandemic led to the deferral of non-emergency surgeries. Tumor surgery accounts for a large volume in the field of visceral surgery and cannot be considered purely elective. It is not known how the SARS-COV-2 pandemic has changed the surgical volume in tumor patients.MethodsRetrospective analysis of the amount of oncological surgeries in three academic visceral surgery departments in Bavaria, Germany, in 2020. Procedures were split into subgroups: Upper Gastrointestinal (Upper GI), Colorectal, Hepato-Pancreato-Biliary (HPB), Peritoneal and Endocrine. Procedures in 2020 were compared to a reference period from January 1st, 2017 to December 31st 2019. Surgical volume was graphically merged with SARS-COV-2 incidence and the number of occupied ICU beds.ResultsSurgical volume decreased by 7.6% from an average of 924 oncologic surgeries from 2017 to 2019 to 854 in 2020. The decline was temporally associated with the incidence of infections and ICU capacity. Surgical volume did not uniformly increase to pre-pandemic levels in the months following the first pandemic wave with lower SARS-COV-2 incidence and varied according to local incidence levels. The decline was most pronounced in colorectal surgery where procedures declined on average by 26% following the beginning of the pandemic situation.ConclusionThe comparison with pre-pandemic years showed a decline in oncologic surgeries in 2020, which could have an impact on lost life years in non-COVID-19 patients. This decline was very different in subgroups which could not be solely explained by the pandemic.

【 授权许可】

CC BY