Abstract
Background: The outbreak of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has led to significant changes in endoscopy units worldwide, with potential impact on patients’ welfare as well as on endoscopy training. We aimed to assess the real-life impact of COVID-19 on the endoscopy unit in a tertiary care center from Romania. Methods: A 6.5-month period during the COVID-19 pandemic was compared to a similar period from 2019. Results: A 6.2-fold decrease of endoscopic procedures was noted. Colonoscopies were reduced from 916 to 42, p < 0.001; flexible sigmoidoscopies from 189 to 14, p = 0.009; upper gastrointestinal (GI) endoscopies from 2269 to 401, p = 0.006; and ERCP from 234 to 125, p < 0.001. The percentage of emergency procedures increased (38.8% vs. 26.2%, p < 0.001), as well as the rate of endoscopies performed for upper GI bleeding (42.5% vs. 24.4%, respectively, p < 0.001). The detection of cancers was considerably reduced (57 compared to 249, p = 0.001). There were fewer complications and higher success rates (7.6% vs. 19.2%, p < 0.001, and 94.2% vs. 90.7%, respectively). Fellows participation was also reduced from 90% to 40.9% (p < 0.001). Conclusions: The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly altered the workflow of the endoscopy unit, lowering the number of procedures performed and potentially compromising the early detection of cancers.
Subject
General Earth and Planetary Sciences,General Environmental Science
Cited by
14 articles.
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