A Retrospective Analysis of Patients in Urgent Need of General Surgery during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Year 2022, Volume: 3 Issue: 2, 117 - 122, 01.08.2022

Gürkan Altuntaş , Murat Mümin Yazıcı , Özlem Bilir , Gökhan Demiral , Gülcan Nur Yılmaz

Abstract

Introduction: Various restrictions were adopted across the world in order to prevent the COVID-19 pandemic, and health systems were reorganized in order to cope with increasing COVID-19 patient numbers. The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the number of patients presenting to our emergency department with emergency surgical diseases and requiring urgent general surgery. Methods: This research examining the approach to emergency general surgery during the COVID-19 pandemic was planned as a retrospective, single-center, clinical study. Patients presenting to the emergency department of a tertiary training and research hospital between 11 March and 1 June, 2020 and requiring urgent general surgical evaluation constituted the study group. The control group consisted of patients presenting to the emergency department and requiring urgent general surgical evaluation during the same period in the previous year. We planned to compare the numbers of patients, their demographic data, the clinical findings, diagnoses, and surgical interventions between the two periods. Results: A 12% decrease was observed in the numbers of patients presenting in the study group during the COVID-19 pandemic compared to the control group. Decisions to operate (p=0.001) and types of operation(p=0.004) differed significantly between the patient and control groups, but no significant difference was observed in terms of hospital presentation times, length of hospital stay, or mortality. Conclusion: The COVID-19 pandemic has affected the management of patients requiring emergency surgery. In terms of the treatment regimen, fewer surgical methods were employed in the study group than in the control group. However, despite the preference for medical therapeutic methods, this did not eliminate the need for surgical treatment for appropriate indications.

Keywords

Emergency surgery, Emergency medicine, COVID-19

COVID-19 Pandemisi Sırasında Acil Genel Cerrahi İhtiyacı Olan Hastaların Retrospektif Analizi

Abstract

Giriş: COVID-19 salgınını önlemek için dünya çapında birtakım kısıtlama önlemleri benimsendi ve COVID-19 hasta sayısındaki artışla başa çıkmak için sağlık sistemleri yeniden düzenlendi. Bu çalışmamızın amacı, COVID-19 pandemi döneminin, acil servisimize başvuran acil cerrahi hastalığı olan ve acil genel cerrahi müdahale gerektiren hasta sayısı üzerindeki etkisini incelemektir. Yöntemler: COVID-19 pandemi sürecinde acil genel cerrahi yaklaşıma bakış açısını inceleyeceğimiz çalışmamız, retrospektif tek merkezli klinik bir çalışma olarak planlandı.11 Mart - 1 Haziran 2020 tarihleri arasında üçüncü basamak eğitim ve araştırma hastanesi acil servisine müracaat eden ve acil genel cerrahi değerlendirme ihtiyacı olan hastalar çalışma grubu olarak belirlendi. Kontrol grubu olarak ise bir önceki yılın aynı dönemi acil servise başvuran ve acil genel cerrahi değerlendirme ihtiyacı olan hastalar belirlendi. Her iki tarih aralığında çalışma ve kontrol grubundaki hastaların sayısı, demografik verileri, klinik bulguları, tanıları ve yapılan cerrahi müdahaleleri karşılaştırılması planlandı. Bulgular: Çalışmamızda, kontrol grubu ile kıyaslandığında, COVID-19 salgın dönemi olan çalışma grubunda başvuran hasta sayısında %12 lik bir azalma söz konusuydu. Çalışma ve kontrol grubu arasında operasyon kararı (p=0,001), operasyon tarzı (p=0,004) istatistiksel olarak anlamlıydı, ancak hastaneye başvuru süreleri, hastanede yatış süreleri ve mortalite istatistiksel olarak anlamsızdı. Sonuç: COVID-19 pandemisi, acil cerrahi ihtiyacı olan hastaların yönetimini etkilemiştir. Çalışma grubu kontrol grubu ile kıyaslandığında tedavi rejimi açısından daha az oranda cerrahi müdahale metodu içermekteydi. Ancak, her ne kadar medikal tedavi yöntemleri tercih edilse de, uygun endikasyonlarda cerrahi tedavi gerekliliğini ortadan kaldırmamıştır.

Keywords

Acil cerrahi, Acil tıp, COVID-19

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