Surgery risk for virus patients

There are higher rates of mortality and pulmonary complications 30 days after surgery, study finds

A STUDY has found that Covid-19 might have dire consequences for those affected when they undergo surgery.

The international study, published in the Lancet, found that 30 days after surgery, patients had higher rates of mortality and pulmonary complications.

University of Birmingham experts found that Covid-19 positive patients had substantially worse post-operative outcomes than Covid-19 negative patients.

Data for 1 128 patients from 235 hospitals was analysed in 24 countries in Europe, Africa, Asia and North America, and contributed to the study.

Overall, 30-day mortality in the study was 23.8%. Mortality was disproportionately high across all subgroups, including elective surgery (18.9%), emergency surgery (25.6%), minor surgery such as simple appendectomy or hernia repair (16.3%), and major surgery such as hip surgery or colon cancer surgery (26.9%).

In the 30 days after surgery, 51% of patients enrolled in the study developed pneumonia, acute respiratory distress syndrome, or required unexpected ventilation. This might explain the high mortality because most (81.7%) patients who died had experienced pulmonary complications.

The study said: “The increased risks associated with Sars-CoV-2 infection should be balanced against the risks of delaying surgery in individual patients.

“This study identified men, people aged 70 years or older, those with comorbidities, those having cancer surgery, and those needing emergency or major surgery as being most vulnerable to adverse outcomes.”

It said consideration should be given to postponing non-urgent procedures