Triage of patients with venous and lymphatic diseases during the COVID-19 pandemic – The Venous and Lymphatic Triage and Acuity Scale (VELTAS)
Year: 2020
Type: article
Abstract: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) global pandemic has resulted in diversion of healthcare resources to the management of patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 virus. Elective interventions and surgical procedures in most countries have been postponed and operating room resources have been diverted to manage the pandemic. The Venous and Lymphatic Triage and Acuity Scale was developed to provide an international standard to rationalise and harmonise the management of patients with venous and lymphatic disorders or vascular anomalies. Triage urgency was determined based on clinical assessment of urgency with which a patient would require medical treatment or surgical intervention. Clinical conditions were classified into six categories of: (1) venous thromboembolism (VTE), (2) chronic venous disease, (3) vascular anomalies, (4) venous trauma, (5) venous compression and (6) lymphatic disease. Triage urgency was categorised into four groups and individual conditions were allocated to each class of triage. These included (1) medical emergencies (requiring immediate attendance), example massive pulmonary embolism; (2) urgent (to be seen as soon as possible), example deep vein thrombosis; (3) semi-urgent (to be attended to within 30-90 days), example highly symptomatic chronic venous disease, and (4) discretionary/non-urgent- (to be seen within 6-12 months), example chronic lymphoedema. Venous and Lymphatic Triage and Acuity Scale aims to standardise the triage of patients with venous and lymphatic disease or vascular anomalies by providing an international consensus-based classification of clinical categories and triage urgency. The scale may be used during pandemics such as the current COVID-19 crisis but may also be used as a general framework to classify urgency of the listed conditions.
Authors: Kurosh Parsi, Andre M van Rij, Mark H Meissner, Alun H Davies, Marianne De Maeseneer, Peter Gloviczki, Stephen Benson, Oscar Bottini, Victor Manuel Canata, Paul Dinnen, Antonios Gasparis, Sergio Gianesini, David Huber, David Jenkins, Brajesh K Lal, Lowell Kabnick, Adrian Lim, William Marston, Alberto Martinez Granados, Nick Morrison, Andrew Nicolaides, Peter Paraskevas, Malay Patel, Stefania Roberts, Christopher Rogan, Marlin W Schul, Pedro Komlos, Andrew Stirling, Simon Thibault, Roy Varghese, Harold J Welch, Cees HA Wittens
Language: English
Subfield: Oncology
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Estimated APC paid: $3,000
OpenAlex ID: W3083172711