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CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · Journal of Clinical Interventional Radiology ISVIR 2020; 4(03): 167-174
DOI: 10.1055/s-0040-1718790
Original Article

Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Interventional Radiology Practice—A Multicenter Observational Study

Mathew Cherian
1   Department of Interventional Radiology, KMCH Hospital, Coimbatore, India
,
Pankaj Mehta
1   Department of Interventional Radiology, KMCH Hospital, Coimbatore, India
,
Sitaram Barath
2   Department of Interventional Radiology, Geetanjali Medical College and Hospital, Udaipur, India
,
Manish Yadav
3   Department of Interventional Radiology, KIMS Hospital, Trivandrum, India
,
Muthurajan Pandi
4   Department of Interventional Radiology, Ramakrishna Hospital, Coimbatore, India
,
Saurabh Joshi
5   Department of Interventional Radiology, Vein Center, Mumbai, India
,
Rahul Kareparambil Ranasingh
6   Department of Interventional Radiology, Government Medical College, Kozhikode, India
,
Akhil Monga
1   Department of Interventional Radiology, KMCH Hospital, Coimbatore, India
,
Karthikeyan Muthugounder Athiyappan
1   Department of Interventional Radiology, KMCH Hospital, Coimbatore, India
,
Nikhil Handihal Reddy
1   Department of Interventional Radiology, KMCH Hospital, Coimbatore, India
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Abstract

Background The COVID-19 pandemic has brought unprecedented challenges to health care services including interventional radiology (IR). Treating COVID-19 infected patients became a priority; furthermore, government policies of differing elective procedures and the public’s fear of contacting COVID-19 have impacted IR workload worldwide. The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the workflow in six vascular IR centers located across India.

Methods The data were collected retrospectively from April 1 to June 30, 2020. All the six centers were staffed by the alumni of a single parent center located in India. Data was also collected from the same time period in 2019 for comparison.

Results A total of 893 patients were treated from April 1 to June 30, 2019, and 419 were treated during the same period in 2020 during the pandemic, a 53% case volume reduction (95% CI:28. 56–129.44; p < 0.001). The month of April had the largest case volume reduction (66%, 95% CI: 13.57–50.43; p < 0.001). Elective procedures showed an 85% reduction (95% CI: 9.62–91.71; p < 0.001). Venous interventions showed the highest reduction of 76% (95% CI: 0.75–67.75; p < 0.001). Neurological emergencies, dialysis-related interventions, and nonvascular procedures did not show a significant change. No patient tested positive for COVID-19 prior to the procedure; however, one patient who was treated emergently was found to be positive later.

Conclusion COVID-19 pandemic has severely impacted IR practice across India. Workload reduction was more profound at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic with a gradual improvement over time.

Keywords

COVID-19 - interventional radiology - impact on health care


Publication History

Article published online:
24 December 2020

© 2020. Indian Society of Vascular and Interventional Radiology. This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial-License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commercial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

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