Combined cesarean delivery and repair of acute aortic dissection at 34 weeks of pregnancy during COVID-19 outbreak: A case report

BACKGROUND: Since the outbreak of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, the exclusion of a patient from COVID-19 should be performed before surgery. However, patients with type A acute aortic dissection (AAD) during pregnancy can seriously endanger the health of either the mother or fetus that requires emergency surgical treatment without the test for COVID-19. CASE SUMMARY: A 38-year-old woman without Marfan syndrome was admitted to the hospital because of chest pain in the 34(th) week of gestation. She has diagnosed as having a Stanford type-A AAD involving an aortic arch and descending aorta via aortic computed tomographic angiography. The patient was transferred to the isolated negative pressure operating room in one hour and underwent cesarean delivery and ascending aorta replacement. All medical staff adopted third-level medical protection measures throughout the patient transfer and surgical procedure. After surgery, the patient was transferred to the isolated negative pressure intensive care unit ward. The nucleic acid test and anti-COVID-19 immunoglobulin (Ig) G and IgM were performed and were negative. The patient and infant were discharged without complication nine days later and recovered uneventfully. CONCLUSION: The results indicated that the procedure that we used is feasible in patients with a combined cesarean delivery and surgery for Stanford type-A AAD during the COVID-19 outbreak, which was mainly attributed to rapid multidisciplinary consultation, collaboration, and quick decision-making.