Purpose
Italy was one of the countries most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic during the first months of the 2020 and the central Italian Government had to adopt strict measures to limit the spread of SARS-CoV-2, the causative agent of COVID-19, in the population, as the Sistema Sanitario Nazionale has been rapidly overloaded by the abrupt surge of COVID-19 patients [1]. In this context, a drop in the number of accesses to Emergency Departments and hospitalizations related to several serious pathologies, such as stroke or coronary...
Methods and materials
The imaging volume of the Radiology Department from 11 March 2020 to the 26 May 2020 has been determined through the RIS-PACS (Integrated Radiology Information System-Picture Archiving Communication System), and the collected data were sorted by radiology unit, by exam modality, and by patient type. Cases of trauma were identified using the clinical situation synopsis on the information system. Lastly, all gathered info have been compared with those relating to the corresponding period of the year 2019.
Results
Preliminary data show a reduction of the examinations carried out by the Radiology Department in its entirety of 15,787 units (-31.2%) compared to the reference period of 2019. The imaging volume of the Emergency Radiology Unit (ERU) decreased by 7,844 units (-40.4%), while the General Radiology Unit (GRU) one declined by 7,943 (-25.5%) [Fig 1].The proportion of examinations performed on inpatients decreased by 5400 units (-27.3%), those on outpatients saw a reduction of 4,926 units (-32.5%) and those carried out on emergency department patients were...
Conclusion
The Italian Government issued a strict stay-at-home order on 11 March 2020 to reduce the spread of SARS-CoV-2 in the population as much as possible. At the same time, local health authorities had to guarantee an adequate level of assistance to the population, while at the same time ensuring the safety of health workers and preserving resources to face the eventuality of a worsening of the pandemic emergency.This reorganization process affected both patients and healthcare workers, and it involved various levels of the radiology department...
Personal information and conflict of interest
F. Pellegrino:
Nothing to disclose
R. Bisi:
Nothing to disclose
D. Cavedagna:
Nothing to disclose
S. Leprotti:
Nothing to disclose
M. Giganti:
Nothing to disclose
References
1. New York Times. Italy’s Health Care System Groans Under Coronavirus — a Warning to the World - The New York Times.
2. Bersano A, Kraemer M, Touzé E, Weber R, Alamowitch S, Sibon I, et al. Stroke care during the COVID‐19 pandemic: experience from three large European countries. Eur J Neurol. 2020 Sep 27;27(9):1794–800.
3. De Filippo O, D’Ascenzo F, Angelini F, Bocchino PP, Conrotto F, Saglietto A, et al. Reduced Rate of Hospital Admissions for ACS during Covid-19 Outbreak in Northern Italy. N...