ABSTRACT
Aim: This study aims to assess the admission times, manual
detorsion rates and outcomes of the testicular torsion cases during
COVID-19 pandemic.
Methods: A retrospective analysis of the testicular torsion
cases was done through our hospital’s electronic archive. Patients with
were distributed into two groups as “COVID-19 era” (between
11th of March 2020 – March 2021) and “pre-COVID-19
era” (between January 2018 and 10th of March 2020).
Time between the onset of symptoms and the moment of detorsion was
calculated as the duration of ischemia. Two groups were compared in
terms of ischemia duration, manual detorsion rates and operational
outcomes.
Results: No statistically significant differences was detected
between groups in terms of ischemia duration, manual detorsion rates and
surgical procedure type (all p>0.05). During the COVID-19
pandemic, the number and percentage of manual detorsions have increased,
resulting in a numerical decrease in orchiectomies.
Conclusions: Conditions caused by COVID-19 may prompt
urologists to manual detorsion more to set up safer surgical
environment. Moreover, this approach may result in a decrease in
orchiectomy rates by saving time and preserving the vascularity of the
testis. Further studies with larger samples sizes and meta-analyses may
support this concept.
Keywords: testicular torsion, COVID-19, manual detorsion,
orchiectomy, emergency