Investigating the real impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the daily neurosurgical practice?

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to relate the neurosurgical activity during a time of sanitary crisis such as experienced during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. METHODS: A monocentric retrospective analysis was made based on a prospectively gathered cohort of all patients requiring neurosurgical care between March 15th and May 12th, 2020. Local impact of SARS-CoV-2 was analysed regarding number of patients admitted in ICU. RESULTS: One hundred and sixty patients could benefit from neurosurgical care with a wide-ranging profile of clinical and surgical activities performed during the study that seemed similar to last year profile activity. Surgical indications were restricted to non-deferrable surgeries, leading to a drop in operative volume of 50%. Only 1.3% of patients required transfer to other units due to the impossibility of providing gold standard neurosurgical care in our centre. CONCLUSION: Despite the challenges represented by the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, it was proven possible to ensure the routine neurosurgical continuity and provide high standards of neurosurgical care without compromising patients’ access to the required treatments.