Triaging Spine Surgery and Treatment during the COVID-19 Pandemic

James M Rizkalla; William Hotchkiss; Andrew Clavenna; Andrew Dossett; Ishaq Y Syed

doi:10.1016/j.jor.2020.06.015

Triaging Spine Surgery and Treatment during the COVID-19 Pandemic

J Orthop. 2020 Jun 25:20:380-385. doi: 10.1016/j.jor.2020.06.015. eCollection 2020 Jul-Aug.

Authors

James M Rizkalla¹, William Hotchkiss², Andrew Clavenna², Andrew Dossett², Ishaq Y Syed¹

Affiliations

¹ Baylor University Medical Center, Department of Orthopedic Surgery, 3500 Gaston Avenue, Dallas, TX, 75246, USA.
² W.B. Carrell Memorial Clinic, Spine Surgery, 9301 N. Central Expressway, Suite 500, Dallas, TX, 75231, USA.

Abstract

Objective: To utilize evidence-based medicine to help determine guidelines for spinal surgery during the Covid-19 era.

Methods: A literature review was performed of peer-reviewed articles focused on indications for common procedures in spine surgery. Based on these indications, we sub-categorized these procedures into elective, urgent and emergent categories. Case examples provided.

Results: Indications for spinal surgery were reviewed based on current literature and categorized. This manuscript presents a decision-making algorithm to help provide a guideline for determining the appropriateness of proceeding with spinal surgery during this COVID-19 time period.

Conclusions: Spinal surgery during the COVID-19 pandemic is an intricate challenging decision-making process, involving clinical, sociologic and economic factors.

Keywords: COVID-19; Coronavirus; Infectious disease; Pandemic; Spinal surgery; Spine.

Publication types

Review