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. 2023 Jun 24:20:100233.
doi: 10.1016/j.wnsx.2023.100233. eCollection 2023 Oct.

The impact of COVID-19 pandemic on surgical neuro-oncology: A survey from the Italian society of neurosurgery (SINch)

Luca Zanin  1 , Tamara Ius  2 , Pier Paolo Panciani  1 , Felice Esposito  3 , Andrea Gori  4 , Marco Maria Fontanella  1 , Maria Pia Tropeano  5   6 , Antonino Raco  7 , Filippo Flavio Angileri  8 , Giovanni Sabatino  9   10 , Alessandro Olivi  9 , Vincenzo Esposito  11   12 , Federico Pessina  5   6 ; SINch NeuroOncology Study Group
Collaborators, Affiliations

The impact of COVID-19 pandemic on surgical neuro-oncology: A survey from the Italian society of neurosurgery (SINch)

Luca Zanin et al. World Neurosurg X. .

Abstract

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on hospitals' activity and organization has imposed a vast change in standard neurosurgical oncology practice to accommodate for shifting resources.

Aims: This investigation aims to analyse the nationwide capability in reorganizing the surgical neuro-oncological activity during the COVID-19 pandemic to evaluate whether COVID-19-pandemic influenced the surgical management in these patients.

Method: A web-based dataset model organized by the Italian Neurosurgical Society (SINCh) was sent to all the Italian neurosurgical departments in May 2021, requesting to report the types and numbers of surgical procedures performed in the pre-pandemic period (from March 9th 2019 to March 9th 2020) compared to the pandemic period (from March 10th 2020 to March 10th 2021).

Results: This multicentre investigation included the surgical activity of 35 Italian Neurosurgical Departments in a pre-pandemic year versus a pandemic year. During the COVID period, 699 fewer neuro-oncological patients were operated on than in the pre-COVID period. We noted a slight increase in urgency and a more severe decrease in elective and benign pathology. None of these differences was statistically significant. Surgically treated patients who tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 were 36, of which 11 died. Death was found to be COVID-related only in 2 cases.

Conclusion: The reorganization of the Italian Neurosurgical Departments was able to guarantee a redistribution of the CNS tumors during the inter-pandemic periods, demonstrating that patients even in the pandemic era could be treated without compromising the efficacy and safety of the surgical procedure.

Keywords: COVID-19; Neuroncology; SINch; Survey.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
a) shows the difference of means between the total number of elective neuro oncological surgeries in the COVID period and the total number of elective neurooncological surgeries in the pre-COVID period. b) shows the difference of means between the total number of urgent neurooncological surgeries in the COVID period and the total number of urgent neurooncological surgeries in the pre-COVID period. In neither case is statistical significance reached.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
a) shows the difference of means between the total number of first diagnosis gliomas operated during the COVID period and the pre-COVID period. b) shows the difference in means between the total number of glioma recurrences operated during the COVID period and the pre-COVID period.
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
a) shows the difference of means between the total number of cranial surgeries performed during the COVID period and the pre-COVID period. b) shows the same analysis on spinal surgeries.
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
shows the trend of various neurooncological pathologies in Italy during the pre-COVID period (blue bar) and the COVID period (red bar).
Fig. 5
Fig. 5
a) and b) show the comparison between two histograms reporting the trend of different neurooncological pathologies during the pre-COVID period (blue bar) and the COVID period (red bar) in North e Central-South of Italy.
Fig. 6
Fig. 6
Number of TNS and awake surgery procedures during the pre-COVID (blue bar) and COVID period (red bar).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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