Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the management of chronic limb-threatening ischemia in Northern Jordan: Case series and literature review

Abstract

Highlights The dismal outcome, often associated with CLTI, requires that substantial measures be taken, especially during pandemics, to mitigate disease progression. During pandemics, telemedicine via virtual encounters ensures continuity of health care while maintaining safety and welfare of the significantly morbid CLTI patients. Critical limb-threatening ischemia requires expedited management to prevent dismal outcome. The COVID-19 pandemic obligated conservative management for CLTI patients with a poor outcome due to delayed presentation and underdeveloped telemedicine services in Jordan.

Cardiovascular Surgical Emergencies in France, before, during and after the First Lockdown for COVID-19 in 2020: A Comparative Nationwide Retrospective Cohort Study

“…A limitation of our data is the lack of data on severity. Patients presenting with critical ischemia often have co-morbidities, consulting at already advanced stages of the disease, and the stages on arrival were potentially more severe [14,15]. The drop in the number of diagnoses of these pathologies is likely related to inadequate patient management (through changes in patient behavior and hospital organization), rather than to a real decrease in their incidence.…”

“…The COVID-19 pandemic and associated long-term lockdown have led to a severe treatment gap due to the effects on medical practices, the organization of hospital care, as well as in the behavior of patients and clinicians. In developed countries, a significant decrease in emergency room visits [1], surgical emergencies [8], cardiac interventional activity and management of acute coronary syndromes [9][10][11][12] and other emergency vascular activities [13][14][15] has been clearly demonstrated. However, most data were collected during the lockdown period without sufficient follow-up regarding data ascertainment, thus, raising the problem of incomplete data.…”

Opportunistic non‐communicable diseases in times of COVID‐19

“…A significant number of surgical procedures have been cancelled or postponed due to allocation of resources during the pandemic. In the field of NCDs, remarkable declines in cardiovascular surgery have been reported in several countries [23][24][25][26][27]…”