Is Laparoscopic Surgery Safe During the Pandemic Period?

Abstract

Abstract Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly affected healthcare service systems and personnel worldwide. Important decisions have been made such as surgical activity changes, recommendations to cancel elective surgery, and shifting surgeons to other medical activities. However, following the collection of new data and acceptance that this pandemic would last for at least a few years, firstly elective cases and then laparoscopic operations were started again. While it was reported that the COVID-19 virus was detected in the abdominal cavity in studies published in the form of series of a few cases, there is no clear information about the virulence of this detected virus yet. In guidelines published as recommendations by surgical associations, it is stated that it could be performed by taking the necessary precautions, but open surgery needs to be preferred in positive cases. We aimed in this study to show minimally invasive surgery is safe with all the precautions made preoperatively for both patients and surgical crew. Material and Method: We retrospectively examined the laparoscopic cases included between August 2020 and December 2020 at the General Surgery Clinic of the Hitit University Erol Olçok Research and Training Hospital from the hospital’s information system. We collected the ages of the found cases, their preoperative COVID diagnostic tests, and their COVID polyclinic visitation data in their postoperative follow-up. We also examined whether or not the surgical team involved in the surgeries of these patients was diagnosed with COVID-19 within 2 weeks following these surgeries. Results: A total of 124 laparoscopic cases were included at our clinic between August 2020 and December 2020. Most of these cases (68.5%) were laparoscopic cholecystectomy cases. A total of 124 laparoscopic cases were included at our clinic between August 2020 and December 2020. Most of these cases (68.5%) were laparoscopic cholecystectomy cases. The surgical team comprised the surgical nurse and operating room personnel under the leadership of the surgeon. Based on verbal questioning, it was determined that no person from the team involved in these surgeries was infected with SARS-CoV-2. Conclusion: In our study, as a result of our application of all these recommendations in the literature, we did not encounter any contamination in the 124 laparoscopic surgery cases we examined. In conclusion, we think that laparoscopic surgery may be performed safely with taking the necessary precautions during the COVID-19 pandemic period.