Surgical interventions on the increase in Tuscany in 2023 compared to previous years. This is the data that emerges from the report by Ars, the regional health agency, which announced that there were 243,807 operations in our region. Numbers once again increasing compared to previous years: +12.1% compared to 2022, +20.2% compared to 2021 and even +38.5% compared to 2020. Surgical interventions, therefore, return to pre- pandemic, those of 2019, with a difference of not even 3% (2.7) to be attributed mainly to the lower number of caesarean sections and other interventions related to pregnancy: 3,886 fewer in total, also a consequence of the widespread decline in birth rates in Tuscany as in rest of Italy.
After obstetrics, the specialties that have shown the greatest decrease in operating volumes are orthopedics (-1.9% in 2023 compared to 2019, 1,219 fewer operations) and ophthalmology (-9.6%, 1,092 operations). Both of these specialties carry out large volumes of surgical activity, even complex ones, on an outpatient basis. The surgical activity scheduled in private nursing homes has not seen any substantial changes: the volume has not changed.
Oncological surgeries, however, have grown. This is of particular importance if we consider the work on prevention done in Tuscany, both from the point of view of information and with regard to participation in screening campaigns, extending, as in the case of the breast, the age range compared to those envisaged at national level. Science has also made progress in recent years, making interventions possible, as in the case of lung cancer, which could not be done until four years ago. Hence the increase. In 2023, the volumes of oncological surgery for the twelve pathologies monitored have in fact overall exceeded the levels provided in all previous years, including 2019 (+11.6%), with an increase of 6.5 percent over 2022.
In detail, for malignant pathologies of the breast, lung, prostate, uterus and pancreas, in 2023 the number of operations increased and the median waiting times were lower or equal to those recorded before the pandemic; for colon, rectal, liver and stomach cancers the number of operations is slightly lower, but so are the waiting times. For kidney tumors, operations are significantly increasing (+21% compared to 2022; +18.5% compared to 2019) and median waiting times are higher than 2019. For tumors of the central nervous system (both malignant and benign) fewer interventions and median waiting times increasing. Operations for malignant thyroid tumors are also growing significantly (+13% on 2022; +65.1% on 2019) and the median waiting time is growing. In this case the growth is also linked to the increase in the number of patients coming from other regions. The Pisa center is in fact a global reference for thyroid cancer and attracts patients from all over Italy.
Even the scheduled interventions for non-oncological surgery exceeded the volumes of delivery compared to previous years. This happens for all ten types (+8.8% on 2022, +3.7% on 2019). Median waiting times are in line with those of 2019 for cholecystectomy, abdominal hernia, arthroscopy and abdominal aortic aneurysm and lower for hip replacement, knee replacement and hysterectomy. They are superior for thyroid, prostate and valvuloplasty operations.
