TY - JOUR T1 - Thoracic surgery practice shift during the novel Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID19) pandemic JF - European Respiratory Journal JO - Eur Respir J DO - 10.1183/13993003.congress-2021.OA2642 VL - 58 IS - suppl 65 SP - OA2642 AU - Georgia Hardavella AU - Elissavet Babaliari AU - Ioannis Karampinis AU - Elena Bellou AU - Elli Keramida AU - Evaggelos Sepsas AU - Panagiotis Demertzis Y1 - 2021/09/05 UR - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/58/suppl_65/OA2642.abstract N2 - Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic has affected the entire lung cancer services including the thoracic surgical practice.Aim: To provide an insight into the impact of national outbreak of COVID19 on thoracic surgical practice in a tertiary referral centre.Materials/Methods: Retrospective review of hospital records/electronic databases for thoracic surgery during the COVID19 pandemic (2020) and comparison with previous year.Results: During the pandemic, a total number of 591 thoracic surgery procedures were performed versus 1020 in 2019 (40% decrease) which has been attributed to the overall decreased number of referrals and the hospital transformation into a COVID19 referral centre. During the pandemic, 44% of surgical procedures were major thoracic surgery for lung cancer treatment with curative intent as opposed to 30% in 2019, 37% were of diagnostic purpose(versus 35% in 2019) and 19% was general thoracic surgery including minor procedures(versus 35% in 2019). In 2020 there has been a noticeable shift towards complex thoracic oncology operations with curative intent in accordance with the centre’s expertise and adaptation to COVID19 lung cancer guidelines. The departmental income was reduced by 26% despite the 40% decrease in overall activity due to increased costing of complex procedures. The graphical representation of monthly procedures is inversely proportional to the national pandemic curve and lockdowns.Conclusions: The pandemic has impacted the number and complexity of thoracic surgery cases with a statistically significant trend towards major oncological surgery and a decrease in minor procedures. The departmental income was not significantly affected.FootnotesCite this article as: European Respiratory Journal 2021; 58: Suppl. 65, OA2642.This abstract was presented at the 2021 ERS International Congress, in session “Prediction of exacerbations in patients with COPD”.This is an ERS International Congress abstract. No full-text version is available. Further material to accompany this abstract may be available at www.ers-education.org (ERS member access only). ER -