Abstract
Mastoid surgery is an aerosol-generating procedure that involves the use of a high-speed drill, which produces a mixture of water, bone, blood and tissue that may contain the viable coronavirus disease 2019 pathogen. This potentially puts the surgeon and other operating theatre personnel at risk of acquiring the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 from contact with droplets or aerosols. The use of an additional drape designed to limit the spread of droplets and aerosols has been described; such drapes include the 'Southampton Tent' and 'OtoTent'. To evaluate the use of a novel drape 'tent' that has advantages over established 'tent' designs in terms of having: (1) a CE marking; (2) no requirement for modification during assembly; and (3) no obstruction to the surgical visual field. During mastoid surgery, the dispersion of macroscopic droplets and other particulate matter was confined within the novel drape 'tent'. Use of this drape 'tent' had no adverse effects upon the surgeon's manual dexterity or efficiency, the view of the surgical field, or the sterility. Hence, our findings support its use during mastoid surgery in the coronavirus disease 2019 era.
Highlights
As we pass through the first peak of the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic, healthcare specialist bodies are striving to resume non-Covid-19 related services on the premise of a safe working environment for all staff.[1]
We evaluated the use of a novel drape ‘tent’ that has advantages over other designs in terms of having: (1) a CE marking; (2) no requirement for modification during assembly; and (3) no significant ‘spare’ drape gathering around the surgical field
During the mastoid surgery described in this case report, this ‘L’ support was covered in a sterile camera drape with ring applicator
Summary
As we pass through the first peak of the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic, healthcare specialist bodies are striving to resume non-Covid-19 related services on the premise of a safe working environment for all staff.[1]. These include the use of an additional or multiple drape(s) to create a ‘tent’ over the surgical field, such as the ‘Southampton Tent’,6 the ‘Ototent’[16] and other methods.[17,18] Recent pre-clinical studies have suggested that the use of such a drape ‘tent’ could reduce the dispersion of particulate matter during temporal bone drilling.[16,17,19] all of these established and previously evaluated ‘tent’ designs require modifications during the assembly process, or are associated with a significant amount of ‘spare’ drape that can interfere with surgical efficiency.[6,18,19]
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