Changing Paradigms in Sinus and Skull Base Surgery as the COVID-19 Pandemic Evolves: Preliminary Experience from a Single Italian Tertiary Care Center

Abstract

Purpose. This paper aims to report the impact of COVID-19 outbreak on Emergency Ear nose and Throat (ENT) activity, in Lombardy (Italy), during COVID-19 pandemic. Methods. The number of accesses to Emergency Department requiring ENT consultations between February 21 st and May 7 th , 2020, was retrospectively collected, along with the conditions treated. Data were strati ed in one-week time spans, in order to evaluate the evolving trends during the ongoing epidemic and a comparison with the two previous years was performed. Results. A signi cant reduction in the number of consultations performed during the pandemic was observed, as high as-91% compared to the same period of 2018. Conclusion. Multiple reasons can explain such a reduction of Emergency ENT consultations, not least the fear of potentially being infected by SARS-Cov-2 by while accessing the hospital. The analysis performed might be useful as a starting point for a future reorganization of rst aid consultations once the epidemic will be resolved.