The Feasibility and Safety of Routine Thoracic Surgeries in the Low-Risk Areas During the Coronavirus Disease 2019 Pandemic

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has been under good control, and work resumption has been gradually carried out in most parts of the People’s Republic of China including Shanghai after March 2020. However, intense focus and resources have been diverted to patients with COVID-19, leaving patients with diseases other than COVID-19 somehow neglected owing to limited access to routine health care. Furthermore, whether routine thoracic surgery service is safe in low-risk areas of COVID-19 infection is still unknown. We hereby retrospectively analyzed the quantity and quality of thoracic surgeries performed by a single team from the Shanghai Chest Hospital between January and May 2020, compared with the corresponding period in the past year. Results suggested that comparable qualities of diagnosis, surgical treatment, and perioperative outcomes were safely and successfully achieved. The total number of surgical procedures gradually increased and surpassed with that of the corresponding period in the past year when the situation of COVID-19 has been in good control in Shanghai by April. Importantly, neither medical staffs nor patients were diagnosed of having COVID-19 infection. In conclusion, although COVID-19 has made considerable impact on elective surgery for thoracic diseases, it is safe and feasible to carry out routine thoracic surgery services in low-risk areas, provided that careful screening of COVID-19 and thorough protection of medical staffs and patients are taken. It is hoped that these findings would serve as a useful reference for thoracic departments all over the world during the COVID-19 pandemic, especially after work resumption.