No delay in surgery for thoracic and lumbar vertebral fractures admitted
during the COVID-19 pandemic: A single centre’s experience
Abstract
Study Design Retrospective cohort Objective To determine if time from
admission to surgery for thoracic and lumbar vertebrae fractures was
affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. Summary of Background Data At our
institution, a specialised workflow was established for emergency spinal
surgeries to take place safely during the Covid-19 pandemic. Methods All
patients admitted via the emergency department with thoracic or lumbar
Arbeitsgemeinschaft für Osteosynthesefragen (AO) type A fractures and
underwent single stage instrumentation from August 2015 to August 2022
at our institution were included in this study. The COVID-19 period was
defined as the months from February 2020 to August 2022. The variables
of interest included age, gender, date of admission, date of surgery and
time from admission to surgery. Results From February 2020 to August
2022, 38 patients were identified. From August 2015 to January 2020, 102
patients were identified. The median number of days from admission to
surgery was six for both the pre COVID-19 and COVID-19 period. During
the COVID-19 period, more surgeries took place over the weekend (42.1%
vs 12.8%, p<0.05). Conclusions The median time from admission
to surgery was not affected by the pandemic. However, there was a
significant increase in the proportion of weekend surgeries being
performed during the COVID-19 period.