Summary
Background. To investigate the changes of performed surgeries in the Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Department at “Santaros Klinikos“, Vilnius University Hospital, examine possible reasons.
Material and methods. Data was collected from the operation registration journals of the Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Department. Three periods of the department were selected: the beginning of the Reconstructive Department at Red Cross Hospital (years 1984, 1985, 1986); final three years of the department at Red Cross Hospital, reflecting the new economic level in independent Lithuania (years 2010, 2011, 2012); the period of department transformation and the beginning of paid aesthetic operations (2018, 2019, and pandemic year 2020). The data was processed using Microsoft Excel 16.66.1.
Results. Of the years reviewed in the study, the most operations were performed in 2018 – 1929 surgeries. A significant change was observed when comparing emergency and planned operations. In the First period of the department, emergency operations accounted for 41.5% of operations, 12.12% in the Second and in the Third period it was 8.68%. Not only the percentage share but also the absolute number of emergency operations decreased. The greatest decrease was in the number of replantations, from 119 operations in 1984 to 9 replantations in 2019 and 2020. The most significant growth and difference between the Second and Third periods was in the breast surgery group. In the Second period, an average of 7 breast operations were performed per year, while in the Third period it was an average of 156 operations per year.
Conclusions. The number of operations has more than doubled from the opening of the department to the present day, with a significant decrease observed only in the pandemic year of 2020. The only group of hand surgeries ranked among the three most frequently performed operation groups in all three periods. The most frequently performed operation groups in the third period were hand surgery, breast surgery and peripheral nerve surgery.
