Letter to the Editor: COVID-19 and the Neurosurgical Treatment of Idiopathic Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus: Shall We Continue to Postpone “Non-emergent” Surgical Procedures?

Corte, Emanuele La; Palandri, Giorgio

doi:10.1016/j.wneu.2020.06.242

Cited by 1 publication

(2 citation statements)

References 6 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Attention to the consequences of postponing surgical treatment in normal pressure hydrocephalus was brought up before by La Corte and Palandri. 25 They found an increase of 60% in visit appointments due to clinical deterioration, which is a higher rate compared with our findings, as 40% of patients with CSF disorders experienced worsening during the waiting period.…”

Section: Open Accesscontrasting

confidence: 69%

“…These subgroups of patients can be considered more vulnerable to becoming critically ill if they become infected, but treatment on time can reduce mortality and the need for residential nursing care. Attention to the consequences of postponing surgical treatment in normal pressure hydrocephalus was brought up before by La Corte and Palandri 25. They found an increase of 60% in visit appointments due to clinical deterioration, which is a higher rate compared with our findings, as 40% of patients with CSF disorders experienced worsening during the waiting period.…”

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 46%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Patients awaiting surgery for neurosurgical diseases during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Spain: a multicentre cohort study

et al. 2022

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

ObjectivesThe large number of infected patients requiring mechanical ventilation has led to the postponement of scheduled neurosurgical procedures during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. The aims of this study were to investigate the factors that influence the decision to postpone scheduled neurosurgical procedures and to evaluate the effect of the restriction in scheduled surgery adopted to deal with the first outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in Spain on the outcome of patients awaiting surgery.DesignThis was an observational retrospective study.SettingsA tertiary-level multicentre study of neurosurgery activity between 1 March and 30 June 2020.ParticipantsA total of 680 patients awaiting any scheduled neurosurgical procedure were enrolled. 470 patients (69.1%) were awaiting surgery because of spine degenerative disease, 86 patients (12.6%) due to functional disorders, 58 patients (8.5%) due to brain or spine tumours, 25 patients (3.7%) due to cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) disorders and 17 patients (2.5%) due to cerebrovascular disease.Primary and secondary outcome measuresThe primary outcome was mortality due to any reason and any deterioration of the specific neurosurgical condition. Second, we analysed the rate of confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection.ResultsMore than one-quarter of patients experienced clinical or radiological deterioration. The rate of worsening was higher among patients with functional (39.5%) or CSF disorders (40%). Two patients died (0.4%) during the waiting period, both because of a concurrent disease. We performed a multivariate logistic regression analysis to determine independent covariates associated with maintaining the surgical indication. We found that community SARS-CoV-2 incidence (OR=1.011, p<0.001), degenerative spine (OR=0.296, p=0.027) and expedited indications (OR=6.095, p<0.001) were independent factors for being operated on during the pandemic.ConclusionsPatients awaiting neurosurgery experienced significant collateral damage even when they were considered for scheduled procedures.

show abstract

Section: Open Accesscontrasting

confidence: 69%

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 46%