Berlin Institute of Health, BIH, Berlin, Germany.
Department of Radiology, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Germany.
Rofo. 2021 Aug;193(8):937-946. doi: 10.1055/a-1368-5047. Epub 2021 Mar 18.
As a cross-section discipline within the hospital infrastructure, radiological departments might be able to provide important information regarding the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on healthcare. The goal of this study was to quantify changes in medical care during the first wave of the pandemic using radiological examinations as a comprehensive surrogate marker and to determine potential future workload.
A retrospective analysis of all radiological examinations during the first wave of the pandemic was performed. The number of examinations was compared to time-matched control periods. Furthermore, an in-depth analysis of radiological examinations attributed to various medical specialties was conducted and postponed examinations were extrapolated to calculate additional workload in the near future.
A total of 596,760 examinations were analyzed. Overall case volumes decreased by an average of 41 % during the shutdown compared to the control period. The most affected radiological modalities were sonography (-54 %), X-ray (-47 %) followed by MRI (-42 %). The most affected medical specialty was trauma and orthopedics (-60 % case volume) followed by general surgery (-49 %). Examination numbers increased during the post-shutdown period leading to a predicted additional workload of up to 22 %.
This study shows a marked decrease in radiological examinations in total and among several core medical specialties, indicating a significant reduction in medical care during the first COVID-19 shutdown.
· Number of radiological examinations decreased by 41 % during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.. · Several core medical specialties were heavily affected with a reduction of case volumes up to 60 %.. · When extrapolating postponed examinations to the near future, the overall workload for radiological departments might increase up to 22 %..
· Fleckenstein FN, Maleitzke T, Böning G et al. Decreased Medical Care During the COVID-19 Pandemic - A Comprehensive Analysis of Radiological Examinations. Fortschr Röntgenstr 2021; 193: 937 - 946.
放射科作为医院基础设施的一个交叉学科，可能能够提供有关 COVID-19 大流行对医疗保健影响的重要信息。本研究的目的是使用放射学检查作为综合替代标志物来量化大流行第一波期间医疗服务的变化，并确定潜在的未来工作量。
对大流行第一波期间的所有放射学检查进行回顾性分析。将检查次数与时间匹配的对照期进行比较。此外，对归因于各种医学专业的放射学检查进行了深入分析，并推断出推迟的检查以计算未来不久的额外工作量。
共分析了 596760 次检查。与对照期相比，关闭期间总体病例量减少了平均 41%。受影响最严重的放射学方式是超声（-54%）、X 射线（-47%），其次是 MRI（-42%）。受影响最严重的医学专业是创伤和骨科（-60%的病例量），其次是普通外科（-49%）。检查数量在关闭后增加，导致预测的额外工作量高达 22%。
本研究表明，总放射学检查和几个核心医学专业的检查数量均明显减少，表明 COVID-19 第一波关闭期间医疗服务显著减少。
·在 COVID-19 大流行的第一波中，放射学检查数量减少了 41%。·几个核心医学专业受到严重影响，病例量减少了高达 60%。·将推迟的检查推断到不久的将来，放射科的整体工作量可能增加 22%。
