Abstract
I read with great interest the editorial by Ghogawala et al.1 (Ghogawala Z, Kurpad S, Falavigna A, et al. Editorial.
COVID-19 and spinal surgery. J Neurosurg Spine. 2020;33[1]:1-3).
The authors state that severe pain from nerve compression should be considered urgent in some cases, such as in patients at risk of using opioids or using valuable emergency room resources for pain control management in the outpatient setting. They admit, however, that the indication for such surgery during this time is questionable and that decisions regarding its urgency vary across health systems.
It can be assumed that not only patients suffering from severe pain from nerve compression, but also many others with osteoporotic fractures, spinal instability, or stenosis may suffer for months without adequate treatment, with the possibility of worsening symptoms or neurological deficit, and without seeing light at the end of the tunnel.