@article{article_1080318, title={A Retrospective Analysis of Patients in Urgent Need of General Surgery during the COVID-19 Pandemic}, journal={Eskisehir Medical Journal}, volume={3}, pages={117–122}, year={2022}, author={Altuntaş, Gürkan and Yazıcı, Murat Mümin and Bilir, Özlem and Demiral, Gökhan and Yılmaz, Gülcan Nur}, keywords={Acil cerrahi, Acil tıp, COVID-19}, 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.}, number={2}, publisher={Eskişehir Şehir Hastanesi}