Hazardous Postoperative Outcomes of Unexpected COVID-19 Infected Patients: A Call for Global Consideration of Sampling all Asymptomatic Patients Before Surgical Treatment

Chen Nahshon*, Arie Bitterman, Riad Haddad, David Hazzan, Ofer Lavie

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

Abstract

Background: In December 2019, a novel coronavirus was identified as the cause of many pneumonia cases in China and eventually declared as a pandemic as the virus spread globally. Few reports were published on the outcome of surgical procedures in diagnosed COVID-19 patients and even fewer on the surgical outcomes of asymptomatic undiagnosed COVID-19 surgical patients. We aimed to review all published data regarding surgical outcomes of preoperatively asymptomatic untested coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients. Methods: This report is a review on the perioperative period in COVID-19 patients who were preoperatively asymptomatic and not tested for COVID-19. Searches were conducted in PubMed April 4th, 2020. All publications, of any design, were considered for inclusion. Results: Four reports were identified through our literature search, comprising 64 COVID-19 carriers, of them 51 were diagnosed only in the postoperative period. Synthesis of these reports, concerning the postoperative outcomes of patients diagnosed with COVID-19 during the perioperative period, suggested a 14/51 (27.5%) postoperative mortality rate and severe mostly pulmonic complications, as well as medical staff exposure and transmission. Conclusions: COVID-19 may have potential hazardous implications on the perioperative course. Our review presents results of unacceptable mortality rate and a high rate of severe complications. These observations warrant further well-designed studies, yet we believe it is time for a global consideration of sampling all asymptomatic patients before surgical treatment.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)2477-2481
Number of pages5
JournalWorld Journal of Surgery
Volume44
Issue number8
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Aug 2020

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Hazardous Postoperative Outcomes of Unexpected COVID-19 Infected Patients: A Call for Global Consideration of Sampling all Asymptomatic Patients Before Surgical Treatment'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this