Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Interventional Radiology Practice—A Multicenter Observational Study
covid-19, Interventional radiology, impact on healthcare
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.
Mathew Cherian, Pankaj Mehta, Sitaram Barath, Manish Yadav, Muthurajan Pandi, Saurabh Joshi, Rahul Kareparambil Ranasingh, Akhil Monga, Karthikeyan Muthugounder Athiyappan, Nikhil Handihal Reddy
Medical physics. Medical radiology. Nuclear medicine