BACKGROUND: The global healthcare activity including neurosurgical services has been significantly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. AIM: Compare neurosurgical theatre activity from 2019 (pre-pandemic) to that of the subsequent pandemic years (2020-2021) and explore how each wave of COVID-19 infection impacted activity levels. METHODS: A retrospective analysis of neurosurgical theatre activity at the National Neurosurgical Centre of Ireland was performed from 1 January 2019 till 31 December 2021. The extracted data included date, surgical procedure, demographics of the patient and case scheduling (elective or emergency). RESULTS: In total, 6139 neurosurgical procedures were recorded throughout the study period. Two thousand one hundred forty-four neurosurgical procedures were recorded in 2019, 2052 in 2020 and 1943 in 2021 corresponding to a reduction in theatre activity by 4.3% and 9.4% in 2020 and 2021 respectively. The lowest number of monthly caseloads was recorded in April 2020 during the first wave of the pandemic. The first quarter of 2021 recorded the lowest number of quarterly surgical procedures over the entire 3-year period contributing to just 19.4% of 2021 caseload. Subgroup analysis showed a significant reduction in trans-sphenoidal pituitary surgeries post-pandemic by 36% and 44% in 2020 and 2021 respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Despite the exceptional stress imposed on our institution by COVID-19, the neurosurgical service managed to maintain comparable activity levels to 2019. The 2021 activity levels were more significantly impacted with 9.4% reduction when compared with pre-pandemic figures in 2019. Institutions need to develop a robust emergency plan to reduce the impact of any subsequent pandemics on healthcare delivery.
BACKGROUND: The global healthcare activity including neurosurgical services has been significantly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. AIM: Compare neurosurgical theatre activity from 2019 (pre-pandemic) to that of the subsequent pandemic years (2020-2021) and explore how each wave of COVID-19 infection impacted activity levels. METHODS: A retrospective analysis of neurosurgical theatre activity at the National Neurosurgical Centre of Ireland was performed from 1 January 2019 till 31 December 2021. The extracted data included date, surgical procedure, demographics of the patient and case scheduling (elective or emergency). RESULTS: In total, 6139 neurosurgical procedures were recorded throughout the study period. Two thousand one hundred forty-four neurosurgical procedures were recorded in 2019, 2052 in 2020 and 1943 in 2021 corresponding to a reduction in theatre activity by 4.3% and 9.4% in 2020 and 2021 respectively. The lowest number of monthly caseloads was recorded in April 2020 during the first wave of the pandemic. The first quarter of 2021 recorded the lowest number of quarterly surgical procedures over the entire 3-year period contributing to just 19.4% of 2021 caseload. Subgroup analysis showed a significant reduction in trans-sphenoidal pituitary surgeries post-pandemic by 36% and 44% in 2020 and 2021 respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Despite the exceptional stress imposed on our institution by COVID-19, the neurosurgical service managed to maintain comparable activity levels to 2019. The 2021 activity levels were more significantly impacted with 9.4% reduction when compared with pre-pandemic figures in 2019. Institutions need to develop a robust emergency plan to reduce the impact of any subsequent pandemics on healthcare delivery.
Authors: Alan D Workman; Aria Jafari; D Bradley Welling; Mark A Varvares; Stacey T Gray; Eric H Holbrook; George A Scangas; Roy Xiao; Bob S Carter; William T Curry; Benjamin S Bleier Journal: Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg Date: 2020-05-26 Impact factor: 3.497
Authors: Keyoumars Ashkan; Josephine Jung; Alexandra Maria Velicu; Ahmed Raslan; Mohammed Faruque; Pandurang Kulkarni; Cristina Bleil; Harutomo Hasegawa; Ahilan Kailaya-Vasan; Eleni Maratos; Gordan Grahovac; Francesco Vergani; Bassel Zebian; Sinan Barazi; Irfan Malik; David Bell; Daniel Walsh; Ranjeev Bhangoo; Christos Tolias; Sanjeev Bassi; Richard Selway; Nick Thomas; Christopher Chandler; Richard Gullan Journal: Acta Neurochir (Wien) Date: 2020-11-21 Impact factor: 2.216
Authors: Thomas D Dobbs; John A G Gibson; Alex J Fowler; Tom E Abbott; Tasnin Shahid; Fatemeh Torabi; Rowena Griffiths; Ronan A Lyons; Rupert M Pearse; Iain S Whitaker Journal: Br J Anaesth Date: 2021-06-18 Impact factor: 9.166
Authors: Clemens M Schirmer; Andrew J Ringer; Adam S Arthur; Mandy J Binning; W Christopher Fox; Robert F James; Michael R Levitt; Rabih G Tawk; Erol Veznedaroglu; Melanie Walker; Alejandro M Spiotta Journal: J Neurointerv Surg Date: 2020-05-28 Impact factor: 5.836
Authors: Nils Hecht; Lars Wessels; Finn-Ove Werft; Ulf C Schneider; Marcus Czabanka; Peter Vajkoczy Journal: Acta Neurochir (Wien) Date: 2020-06-08 Impact factor: 2.216
Authors: Jack Horan; John C Duddy; Brian Gilmartin; Michael Amoo; Deirdre Nolan; Paula Corr; Mohammed Ben Husien; Ciaran Bolger Journal: Ir J Med Sci Date: 2021-01-07 Impact factor: 2.089