AB041. SOH21AS123. Impact of COVID-19 on patients undergoing carotid endarterectomy for symptomatic disease
Vascular Session

AB041. SOH21AS123. Impact of COVID-19 on patients undergoing carotid endarterectomy for symptomatic disease

Lauren Leddy, Aisling Kelly, Cleona Gray, Edward Mulkern, Martin O’Donohoe, Ciaran McDonnell

Department of Vascular Surgery, Mater Misericordiae University Hospital, Dublin, Ireland

Background: The risk of disabling stroke is highest in the first 14 days after onset of symptoms. Current European Society of Vascular Surgery guidelines recommend that carotid endarterectomy should be performed within 14 days of symptom onset in patients with the appropriate degree of carotid stenosis. We have previously reported difficulty complying with this recommendation. The COVID-19 pandemic has caused severe disruption to all elective and urgent surgical procedures. This study looks at the effect on time to surgery following symptoms in patients requiring carotid endarterectomy.

Methods: Data was extracted from a prospectively maintained database. The time from onset of symptoms to surgery was determined for patients undergoing carotid endarterectomy between March 1st and July 31st, 2020 and compared to the same time period in 2019. Asymptomatic patients were not included in the study.

Results: During the period under review in 2019, 15 patients had carotid endarterectomy performed for symptomatic carotid disease. In the same period in 2020, 16 patients had carotid endarterectomy performed. The median time from onset of symptoms to endarterectomy was 8 days in 2019 and 7 days in 2020. Only one patient required transfer to the local private hospital for surgery during the pandemic.

Conclusions: In order to limit the impact of the pandemic in this patient group great flexibility was shown by all involved in their care. As a result, the time to surgery actually improved.

Keywords: COVID-19; coronavirus, pandemic; carotid endarterectomy; vascular; time-to-intervention

Acknowledgments

Funding: None.

Footnote

Conflicts of Interest: The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.

Ethical Statement: The authors are accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.

Open Access Statement: This is an Open Access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0), which permits the non-commercial replication and distribution of the article with the strict proviso that no changes or edits are made and the original work is properly cited (including links to both the formal publication through the relevant DOI and the license). See: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/.

doi: 10.21037/map-21-ab041
Cite this abstract as: Leddy L, Kelly A, Gray C, Mulkern E, O’Donohoe M, McDonnell C. SOH21AS123. Impact of COVID-19 on patients undergoing carotid endarterectomy for symptomatic disease. Mesentery Peritoneum 2021;5:AB041.

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