• Juan Silvestre G Pascual, Katrina Hannah D Ignacio, Michelle Regina L Castillo, and KhuKathleen Joy OKJODivision of Neurosurgery, Department of Neurosciences, College of Medicine and Philippine General Hospital, University of the Philippines Manila, Manila, Philippines..
• Division of Neurosurgery, Department of Neurosciences, College of Medicine and Philippine General Hospital, University of the Philippines Manila, Manila, Philippines. Electronic address: jgpascual@up.edu.ph.
• World Neurosurg. 2022 Mar 1; 159: 189197.e7189-197.e7.

BackgroundThe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has negatively affected the outcomes of surgical neuro-oncology patients worldwide. We aimed to review the practice patterns in surgical neuro-oncology in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). We also present a situational report from our own country.MethodsA scoping review was performed following the PRISMA-ScR (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses Extension for Scoping Reviews) guidelines.ResultsTwelve studies were included in the review. Most of the studies were from Asia (India, China, Iran, and Turkey), and 1 was from Brazil. Quantitative reports showed a decrease in the number of surgical neuro-oncology operations between pre-COVID-19 and post-COVID-19 time frames, but similar proportions of neuro-oncology procedures. Qualitative review showed similar practice patterns between LMICs and high-income countries, except for limitations in resources such as negative-pressure operating rooms and intensive care units, and maintenance of face-to-face consults despite the adoption of telemedicine. Limited data on adjuvant therapy were available in LMICs.ConclusionsIn our review, we found that the practice patterns in surgical neuro-oncology in LMICs during the COVID-19 pandemic are similar to those in high-income countries, except for a few modifications because of resource limitation and patient preferences.Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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