Introduction
COVID-19 pandemic which outbroke in December 2019 has caused disruption
of both emergency and routine urological healthcare services around the
world 1,2. Through this period of worldwide health
crisis, urologists have adapted by trying to take protective measures
while striving not to interrupt their practice 3. In
our country, first COVID-19 case has been reported on
11th of March, 2020 and since then; the daily workload
of urologists has dramatically dropped. Although this decrease,
nondeferrable emergent interventions were prioritized and continued4.
Testicular torsion is an acute urgent scrotal pathology in which time is
of great importance in preserving the testis. Testis, being an
end-organ, is vulnerable to ischemia and the time of ischemia is
directly proportional with the risk of testicular atrophy and
dysfunction 5. Early admission is a critical factor to
prevent these negative outcomes which leads to organ loss. Management of
testicular torsion is a race against time even if in normal conditions.
In this extraordinary COVID-19 pandemic which affects every aspect of
clinical practice, approach to cases with testicular torsion becomes
even more crucial.
The aim of our study is to evaluate the admission times, our approach
and orchiectomy rates of patients diagnosed with testicular torsion
during COVID-19 pandemic in our tertiary referral educational urology
clinic.