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Department of General Surgery, George Eliot Hospital NHS Trust, Nuneaton, Warwickshire, United Kingdom
Department of General Surgery, George Eliot Hospital NHS Trust, Nuneaton, United Kingdom
Department of General Surgery, George Eliot Hospital NHS Trust, Nuneaton, United Kingdom
Department of General Surgery, George Eliot Hospital NHS Trust, Nuneaton, United Kingdom
Department of General Surgery, George Eliot Hospital NHS Trust, Nuneaton, United Kingdom
Department of General Surgery, George Eliot Hospital NHS Trust, Nuneaton, United Kingdom
Department of General Surgery, George Eliot Hospital NHS Trust, Nuneaton, United Kingdom
Department of General Surgery, George Eliot Hospital NHS Trust, Nuneaton, United Kingdom
Aim
The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has had a major impact on the delivery of elective, as well as emergency surgery on a worldwide scale. Up to date few studies have actually assessed the impact of COVID-19 on the postoperative morbidity and mortality following emergency gastrointestinal surgery. Herein, we present our relevant experience over a 3-month period of uninterrupted provision of emergency general surgery services in George Eliot Hospital NHS Trust, the United Kingdom.
Methods
We performed a retrospective analysis of a prospective institutional database, which included the operation types, paraclinical investigations and postoperative complications of all patients undergoing emergency general surgery operations between March-May 2020.
Results
The occurrence of a 5% overall respiratory complication rate postoperatively, with 3% infection rate for COVID-19 was found; no patient had unplanned return to intensive care for ventilator support and there was no mortality related to COVID-19 infection.
Conclusion
When indicated, emergency surgery should not be delayed in favour of expectant/conservative management in fear of COVID-19-related morbidity or mortality risks.
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