Increase in (semi-) acute non-instrumented lumbar spine surgeries during the COVID-19 pandemic

Introduction: Due to the COVID-19 pandemic healthcare resources were reallocated, thereby reducing elective surgery capacity. An increase in acute surgeries due to postponed elective surgeries was expected. Since elective lumbar spine surgery for degenerative indications was among the cancelled or postponed surgical interventions, we hypothesized that the number of acute and semi-acute surgeries would increase during the pandemic. Research question: What was the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the number of (semi-)acute lumbar spinal surgeries? Material and methods: This prospective cohort study included patients who underwent non-instrumented degenerative lumbar spine surgery, i.e. interlaminar decompression, laminectomy or lumbar microdiscectomy. We distinguished a pre-COVID cohort (between 01.03.2019 and 29.02.2020) and a COVID-cohort (between 01.03.2020 and 28.02.2021). Results: We included 313 patients in the pre-COVID cohort and 194 in the COVID-cohort, reflecting a decline of 38.7 %. The number of (semi-)acute indications increased with 300 % in the COVID-cohort, which was mainly the result of more surgeries for severe and intractable radiculopathy. We also noted an increase in good clinical outcome and a decline in complications in the COVID-cohort. Discussion and conclusion: The number of elective degenerative lumbar spine surgeries declined due to the COVID-19 pandemic, while the rate of (semi)-acute lumbar spinal surgeries increased strongly. The latter may be due to altered patients’ clinical presentations and surgical decision making in times of severe health care scarcity of elective surgical care.