Vascular Surgery COVID-19 Collaborative (VASCC) – Europe

COVID-19 pandemic, begun in Europe in the first months of 2019, has rapidly upset medical panorama. This condition has required a fast reorganization of the whole international health system: in order to treat hundreds of patients affected by COVID-19, it has been necessary to redistribute hospital beds, to equip hospital departments and to reschedule the elective clinical and surgical activity.

Vascular Surgery in Italy and in the world, as many other disciplines, had to face with this new situation. Elective surgical activity has been reduced and dedicated to the most severe and invalidating conditions, according to the National Society guidelines. Emergent surgical activity has been obviously preserved, but at the same time influenced by the new diagnostic and therapeutic protocols designed for COVID19.

Based on these observations, since March 2020, Dr. Max Wohlauer (University of Colorado) and Dr. Robert Cuff (University of Michigan) created the project VASCC (Vascular Surgery COVID-19 Collaborative).

https://medschool.cuanschutz.edu/surgery/divisions-centers-affiliates/vascular/research/vascc/vascc

This project consists in an international registry of patient’s information, identified with specifical codes to respect privacy rules, from which it is possible to get reliable and widely applicable data and results.

The primary aim of the Vascular Surgery COVID-19 Collaborative (VASCC) is to evaluate the effect of the systematic, widespread, and immediate postponement of vascular surgery on patient outcomes around the world (Project 1 - Impact of COVID-19 on Scheduled Vascular Operations). We are evaluating the vascular manifestations of patients infected with COVID-19 as well (Project 2: Thrombotic Complications of COVID-19).

European Coordinator of this international registry is Giovanni Tinelli, MD, PhD, head of the Endovascular Therapies Unit of the Fondazione Policlinico Universitario Gemelli IRCCS in Rome, Italy.

The platform chosen for data collection is RedCap, a simple and intuitive online software that complies with the current European regulations on GDPR privacy. European data collection will be centralized on servers available at Fondazione Policlinico Gemelli, using the RedCap institutional platform, managed by Eng. Tina Pasciuto, head of Research Core Facility Data Collection, the new reality created within the Gemelli Polyclinic dedicated to the organized and standardized management of the collection of clinical data for research purposes.

The aim of the Vascular Surgery COVID-19 Collaborative (VASCC) - Europe project is to achieve broad participation by involving over 54 Centers in the European area (including the UK). To participate in the study or for any further clarification, write to vascc.europe@policlinicogemelli.it