Elsevier

World Neurosurgery

Volume 156, December 2021, Pages 28-32
World Neurosurgery

Literature Review
The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Traumatic Brain Injury Management: Lessons Learned Over the First Year

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wneu.2021.09.030Get rights and content

The COVID-19 pandemic has had widespread consequences on health care systems around the world. It resulted in extensive changes to the referral patterns, management, and rehabilitation of surgical conditions. We aimed to evaluate the effect the COVID-19 pandemic has had on traumatic brain injury (TBI) specifically. We reviewed the literature published on COVID-19 and TBI referrals, management, and rehabilitation. Significant changes were seen in the referral patterns of TBIs worldwide, explained by changes in societal behaviors and changes in the mechanism of injury. Implementation of strict infection control measures and COVID-19 screening was commonplace, with some reporting changes to operating room protocols. TBI was more likely to be conservatively managed. Rehabilitation services were restricted, with a greater shift towards telemedicine to provide rehabilitative therapy remotely.

Key words

COVID-19
Traumatic brain injury
Referral
Management
Rehabilitation

Abbreviations and Acronyms

COVID-19
Coronavirus 2019
ICU
Intensive care unit
OR
Operating room
PPE
Personal protective equipment
TBI
Traumatic brain injury

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Conflict of interest statement: The authors declare that the article content was composed in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

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