Routine in an Italian high-volume Vascular Surgery Unit during the COVID-19 era: how the pandemic changed the vascular daily practice

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak has caused a worldwide public health emergency, affecting more than 150 countries [1] and Italy has been most notably impacted. The public health system had to face a completing unexpected challenge necessitating an abrupt restructuring of hospital structures. The Italian Ministry of Health gave the directive to defer every non-urgent surgical intervention, performing selectively urgent and oncological procedures. Guidelines were released for triage of non-emergent surgical procedures based on the Elective Surgery Acuity Scale (ESAS) that considers the majority of arterial vascular procedures as not deferrable.
Source: Annals of Vascular Surgery - Category: Surgery Authors: Source Type: research