Triage of patients with venous and lymphatic diseases during the COVID-19 pandemic - The Venous and Lymphatic Triage and Acuity Scale (VELTAS):: A consensus document of the International Union of Phlebology (UIP), Australasian College of Phlebology (ACP), American Vein and Lymphatic Society (AVLS), American Venous Forum (AVF), European College of Phlebology (ECoP), European Venous Forum (EVF), Interventional Radiology Society of Australasia (IRSA), Latin American Venous Forum, Pan-American Socie

• Published in: Journal of vascular surgery. Venous and lymphatic disorders (New York, NY) Vol. 8; no. 5; pp. 706 - 710
• Main Authors: Parsi, Kurosh, van Rij, Andre M, Meissner, Mark H, Davies, Alun H, De Maeseneer, Marianne, Gloviczki, Peter, Benson, Stephen, Bottini, Oscar, Manuel Canata, Victor, Dinnen, Paul, Gasparis, Antonios, Gianesini, Sergio, Huber, David, Jenkins, David, Lal, Brajesh K, Kabnick, Lowell, Lim, Adrian, Marston, William, Granados, Alberto Martinez, Morrison, Nick, Nicolaides, Andrew, Paraskevas, Peter, Patel, Malay, Roberts, Stefania, Rogan, Christopher, Schul, Marlin W, Komlos, Pedro, Stirling, Andrew, Thibault, Simon, Varghese, Roy, Welch, Harold J, Wittens, Cees H A
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. on behalf of the Society for Vascular Surgery 01.09.2020
• Subjects: Betacoronavirus; Consensus; Coronavirus Infections - diagnosis; Coronavirus Infections - epidemiology; Coronavirus Infections - prevention & control; COVID-19; Humans; International Cooperation; Lymphatic Diseases - diagnosis; Lymphatic Diseases - therapy; Pandemics - prevention & control; Patient Selection; Pneumonia, Viral - diagnosis; Pneumonia, Viral - epidemiology; Pneumonia, Viral - prevention & control; Reproducibility of Results; SARS-CoV-2; Severity of Illness Index; Societies, Medical; Triage - organization & administration; Vascular Diseases - diagnosis; Vascular Diseases - therapy; Vascular Surgical Procedures; Veins; COVID-19; Vascular malformations; Vascular anomalies; SARS-CoV-2; Lymphatic; Pandemic; Triage; Vascular; Venous
• ISSN: 2213-333X; 2213-3348
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jvsv.2020.05.002

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) global pandemic has resulted in diversion of healthcare resources to the management of patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 virus. Elective interventions and surgical procedures in most countries have been postponed and operating room resources have been diverted to manage the pandemic. The Venous and Lymphatic Triage and Acuity Scale was developed to provide an international standard to rationalise and harmonise the management of patients with venous and lymphatic disorders or vascular anomalies. Triage urgency was determined based on clinical assessment of urgency with which a patient would require medical treatment or surgical intervention. Clinical conditions were classified into six categories of: (1) venous thromboembolism (VTE), (2) chronic venous disease, (3) vascular anomalies, (4) venous trauma, (5) venous compression and (6) lymphatic disease. Triage urgency was categorised into four groups and individual conditions were allocated to each class of triage. These included (1) medical emergencies (requiring immediate attendance), example massive pulmonary embolism; (2) urgent (to be seen as soon as possible), example deep vein thrombosis; (3) semiurgent (to be attended to within 30-90 days), example highly symptomatic chronic venous disease, and (4) discretionary/nonurgent- (to be seen within 6-12 months), example chronic lymphoedema. Venous and Lymphatic Triage and Acuity Scale aims to standardise the triage of patients with venous and lymphatic disease or vascular anomalies by providing an international consensus-based classification of clinical categories and triage urgency. The scale may be used during pandemics such as the current COVID-19 crisis but may also be used as a general framework to classify urgency of the listed conditions.