COVID‐19 and urology: a comprehensive review of the literature

Abstract

Objective To discuss the impact of COVID‐19 on global health, particularly on urological practice and to review some of the available recommendations reported in the literature. Material and Methods In the current narrative review the PubMed database was searched to identify all the related reports discussing the impact of COVID‐19 on the urological field. Results The COVID‐19 pandemic is the latest and biggest global health threat. Medical and surgical priorities have changed dramatically to cope with the current challenge. These changes include postponements of all elective outpatient visits and surgical procedures to save facilities and resources for urgent cases and patients with COVID‐19 patients. This review discuss some of the related changes in urology. Conclusions Over the coming weeks, healthcare workers including urologists will be facing increasingly difficult challenges, and consequently, they should adopt triage strategy to avoid wasting of medical resources and they should endorse sufficient protection policies to guard against infection when dealing with COVID‐19 patients.

Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Urologist’s clinical practice in Brazil: a management guideline proposal for low- and middle-income countries during the crisis period

“…In addition to lithiasis associated with urinary tract infection, ureteral obstruction in a solitary kidney or bilateral ureteral obstruction, acute impairment of renal function and pain refractory to clinical treatment should not be postponed. Unlike other recommendations (11), our position is that, once the surgical procedure is indicated, we should be as resolutive as possible, in order to reduce the number of visits to the hospital for new surgeries to the emergency department. Thus, instead of just draining the urinary tract, our tendency is to perform ureterolithotripsy whenever possible and safe, keeping the double J stent with a string externalized by the urethra to be removed on an outpatient basis.…”

Urologic Surgery and COVID-19: How the Pandemic Is Changing the Way We Operate

“…In a comprehensive review article, Puliatti and colleagues offered similar recommendations to prioritize emergency cases and high-risk cancer procedures. 10 Selection of cases in a given region will be driven by the total number of cases, the projection of number of hospitalized patients during the surge, and the hospital and intensive care capacity. As the number of open hospital beds, ventilators, and personal protective equipment (PPE) decreases, postponing all but emergency and urgent surgeries becomes life-saving.…”

Bolstering the surgical response to COVID‐19: how virtual technology will save lives and safeguard surgical practice

“…The authors of ‘COVID‐19 and urology: a comprehensive review of the literature’ have written a perceptive article which clearly outlines the complex challenges that COVID‐19 is posing to urological surgeons and, indeed, the global surgical community at large [1].…”