1630P The impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on surgical site infections in elective colorectal cancer surgery: One potential benefit of the pandemic?

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, has affected either directly or directly all medical fields. It caused a major reduction of elective surgical operations as well as overall admissions to surgical departments because of the widespread hospital fear and anxiety experienced by most patients during the peak of this outbreak. However, colorectal cancer operations were performed in large numbers also during the pandemic. In order to protect patients and health workers, hygiene and public health measures were intensified when the coronavirus pandemic began. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the rate of surgical site infections (SSIs) after the beginning of COVID-19 hygiene measures, which was in March 2020 in Greece. Methods: A total of 173 patients who underwent elective colorectal cancer surgery were enrolled retrospectively. Patients were divided into two groups. Group A included 98 patients undergoing colorectal cancer surgery between January 2019-December 2019 (pre-COVID-19 era), whereas 75 patients (group B) underwent colorectal cancer procedures between April 2020-March 2021 (after the beginning of COVID-19 hygiene measures). Statistical analyses were done using Stata13. The student’s t-test was used to compare results between groups. Results: SSI developed in 35 of the 173 patients (20.2%). According to the results of our study, there was a statistically significant difference between the total numbers of SSIs between the 2 examined periods. 25 (25.5%) wound infections occurred in group A-patients postoperatively, whereas only 10 (13.3%) SSIs were developed in patients undergoing colorectal cancer surgery after the beginning of COVID-19 measures (P=0.048). Conclusions: The current study demonstrates that COVID-19 hygiene and public health measures affect the rate of SSI after elective colorectal cancer surgery. Legal entity responsible for the study: The authors. Funding: Has not received any funding. Disclosure: All authors have declared no conflicts of interest.