Experience in Neurosurgery During the Prevalence of COVID-19

Abstract

In order to summarize the experience of neurosurgery in The Third People's Hospital of Hubei Province after the outbreak of COVID-19 in 2019, 28 patients were admitted from January 5, 2020 to February 17, 2020. A series of department formulates and constant improvements were made, including elective operation cancellation, altered conventional outpatient service into online outpatient service, strict control of inter department consultation prevention and entering the department, improvements in operation and treatment processes, and strict ward management. As a result, 1 patient with hypertensive cerebral hemorrhage and deep vein thrombosis of the right lower extremity died suddenly due to pulmonary embolism during anticoagulation treatment. Two patients with deep coma gave up treatment and died. No patient was confirmed to be infected with COVID-19 in hospital. One doctor had a low fever and cough in January, and CT showed a small nodule in the lower left lung. After 2 weeks isolation and oral anti-infective drugs, the chest nodule disappeared. One nurse was isolated as a close contact with infected parents. One nurse was confirmed to be infected with COVID-19 in a mild symptom. She was discharged after being cured in the infected department. In conclusion, measures like sufficient theoretical training and protection upgrading for medical staff, continuous improvement on the understanding of COVID-19 characteristics and transmission routes, formulation of strict department management system, monitoring of patients and their families, could effectively deal with the epidemic situation in the neurosurgery department.

Managing Neurosurgery in the Covid-19 Pandemic

“…As semi-emergency operation, neurosurgery encountered new restrictions or cancellations based on the developed protocols, as the delays and long durations are critical factors (4). In this regard, face-to-face visits and the number of neurosurgery operations experienced remarkable reduction (5,6).…”