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Purpose: To determine if there was a discrepancy between telemedicine versus in-person New Patient Visits (NPVs) regarding the conversion rate to operative and radiosurgery cases at a tertiary surgical neuro-oncology practice., Methods: A retrospective analysis was performed of patients who had an outpatient encounter with a neurosurgeon from the Tumor Division at our institution's Department of Neurosurgery between February 1, 2021 and April 30, 2021. NPVs during this period were registered as either telemedicine or in-person appointments. The primary endpoint of the study was to compare the rate at which telemedicine NPVs and in-person NPVs underwent surgery or radiosurgery, reported as the surgical conversion rate., Results: A total of 206 patients were included in this study. Of them, 119 (57.8%) were seen using telemedicine and 87 (42.2%) were seen in clinic via an in-person visit. A total of 70 (34%) of all patients underwent surgery or radiosurgery. Of the 119 patients seen via telemedicine, 40 (33.6%) underwent surgery or radiosurgery; during the same period, 87 NPVs were conducted in person and 30 (34.5%, p = 1.0) received an intervention. Further stratification revealed no differences between the two groups across measured criteria including diagnosis, number of pre-operative visits, elapsed time from appointment to surgery, follow-up visits, and distance from home address to neurosurgical clinic., Conclusion: Telemedicine NPVs did not differ significantly from in-person NPVs when evaluating the likelihood of a new patient committing to surgical treatment. This study provides quantifiable evidence that telemedicine is an effective means of meeting new patients and planning complex neurosurgical interventions., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.)

Background: Telemedicine use skyrocketed in March 2020 on implementation of shelter-in-place measures owing to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Within the past year, shelter-in-place measures were lifted and the COVID-19 vaccine was released, resulting in many neurosurgeons returning to in-person outpatient clinics. This study aimed to determine the extent of usage of telemedicine in neurosurgery 1 year into the COVID-19 pandemic., Methods: A retrospective cohort study of patients who received neurosurgical care at a single institution from February 1 to April 18 of the years 2020 and 2021 was performed. The inclusion criteria were met by 11,592 patients. During the 2 study periods, 1465 patients underwent surgery, 7083 were seen in clinic via an in-person meeting, and 3044 were assessed via telemedicine., Results: At 1 year after the COVID-19 outbreak, telemedicine usage was at 81.3% of the initial volume on implementation of shelter-in-place measures. In-person outpatient visits increased 40.2% from the early pandemic volume. Among the 4 neurosurgery divisions, telemedicine usage remained high in tumor and functional neurosurgery, significantly increased in vascular neurosurgery, and decreased in spine neurosurgery., Conclusions: Telemedicine use in neurosurgery clinics continues 1 year after the COVID-19 outbreak. Even after the lifting of shelter-in-place measures, many neurosurgeons still use telemedicine, while the operative volume remains stable. Owing to the limited physical examination that can be performed via current telemedicine platforms, telemedicine use in spine neurosurgery is lower than peak use during the early pandemic, while use has remained high among tumor, vascular, and functional neurosurgery., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)