Effect of Coronavirus Disease 2019 Pandemic on Spinal Surgery Patients: Our Experience at a Tertiary Care Center

INTRODUCTION: In December 2019, a cluster of atypical cases of pneumonia was reported in Wuhan, China, which was later designated as Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) by the World Health Organization (WHO) on Feb 11, 2020. We all are facing a global pandemic, and it is very important to be clear that there is no correct roadmap to navigate this difficult situation. It is imperative to state that this global pandemic impacted the spine care services of our institute. In the present study, we have assessed the spine surgeries performed by orthopedic surgeons in terms of volume and etiologies during the COVID-19 pandemic and compared the data with a pre-COVID period. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We retrospectively collected data from all patients who underwent spinal surgeries at our institute under the department of orthopedics from August 20, 2019 to August 20, 2020 (a total of 12 months duration). The data was then divided into two groups—pre-COVID period (August 20, 2019–February 19, 2020—6 months) and during the COVID pandemic (February 20, 2020–August 20, 2021—6 months). RESULTS: A total of 140 patients underwent surgery at our institute from August 20, 2019 to August 20, 2020. Of these, 91 patients underwent surgery during the pre-COVID period, and 49 patients underwent surgery during the COVID pandemic. In this devastating phase of the pandemic, our department’s total number of surgeries significantly declined to 46.15%. The routine surgeries performed during the pandemic phase show a steep fall from 59.34% in the pre-COVID period to 10.20%. CONCLUSION: This paper is meant to focus attention on the exorbitant reduction in the operative workflow of the spine patients during the COVID-19 pandemic at a tertiary healthcare institute. It is the need of the hour that orthopedic surgeons maintain equilibrium while providing the best possible treatment to their patients and limiting the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.