Understanding the practice of thoracic surgery during the COVID-19 pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected the entire medical community including the thoracic surgical practice. The guidelines, consensus statements, and preliminary recommendations published by the thoracic surgeons so far have appreciated the importance of triage of patients with thoracic surgical diseases and multidisciplinary team (MDT) meeting. Delaying surgery or planning alternative treatment in patient care should be done by taking input from experts in thoracic specialties. The procedures that can be carried out in a hospital are based on the prevalence of COVID-19 patients within the hospital and availability of hospital resources. As a result, proper triaging, ensuring safety of patient and health care personnel, and optimal utilization of the available resources remain the cornerstone while fighting the COVID-19 pandemic. In this manuscript, we highlight these issues with respect to practice of thoracic surgery.