L’anesthésie au temps du COVID

Surgical pathway has gained in complexity thanks to the recent COVID-19 pandemic. The anesthetic management of the SARScoV-2 (+) patient imposes several modifications, and remains a work in progress. As a consequence there has been a shift to distant anaesthetic consultations while in-hospital consultations are more difficult to organize. Patients scheduled for surgery may benefit from a preoperative diagnostic testing for SARS coV2 infection if they have been in close contact with a COVID-19 patient, or if they are symptomatic or in case of major surgery. According to the PCR results, patients could have their surgery postponed, or may alternatively follow a specific clinical pathway in the operating and recovery rooms with an adapted anaesthetic plan.