Survey on anesthesiology in vascular surgery and COVID-19 pandemic impact

Patients undergoing vascular surgery are multi-pathological and complex. In recent years there has been a significant increase in the number of patients undergoing endovascular surgery. The Cardiac, Vascular and Thoracic section of the Spanish Society of Anesthesiology and Resuscitation (SEDAR) designed a telematic survey based on 29 questions using Google Forms (R) that was sent to all members of this society. A total of 204 anesthesiologists answered questions structured in blocks: 1. Carotid endarterectomy; 2. Abdominal and thoracic aortic aneurysm repair; 3. Lower limb arterial and venous surgery; 4. Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on vascular surgical scheduling; 5. Enhanced recovery after vascular surgery; 6. Other questions. Despite certain differences in anesthetic management, locoregional anesthesia is a widely used technique. The three determinants for the anesthesiologist's performance are the patient, his or her pathology and the idiosyncrasy of each center. Currently, accelerated recovery programs in vascular surgery are not widely implemented in Spain. Finally, the results show that during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, vascular surgery was practically reduced to urgent and emergent surgery, following the anesthetic and surgical recommendations of the different scientific societies, including SEDAR and SEACV.