Incidence and clinical profiles of COVID-19 in patients with gynecological surgery: A single center descriptive study from Spain.

Abstract

Background: The inflammatory reaction after a surgical intervention could exacerbate the course of the COVID-19. We aim to determine the rate of COVID-19 and its complications among gynecological surgeries in the context of different measures taken during the pandemic period in our department. Methods: A retrospective longitudinal observational study was conducted. Clinical records of patients who underwent gynecological surgery from March 1 st to April 10 th , 2020 were reviewed. During this period, three different approachs were made: first phase, without any screening or surgical restrictions; second phase, with presurgical epidemiological screening using a specific questionnaire; and third phase, also with presurgical SARS-COV-19 RT-PCR. During the second and third phases the surgical activity and complexity were restricted, and different workflows were established for patient with suspected/confirmed infection. After hospital discharge, telephone follow-up was performed and screening for COVID-19 was carried out. Complications from the disease were analyzed. Results : Of the 118 patients that underwent gynecological surgeries, 10 (8.5%) were perioperatively diagnosed with COVID-19. Of these patients, 8 (80%) were not pre-surgical screened for SARS-CoV-2 infection, neither clinical nor with RT-PCR. The other 2 (20%) were preoperative screened with RT-PCR, one of them with a positive test result. Screening false negative rate was 0.8%. No postoperative complications derived from COVID-19 were observed. Conclusions: The establishment of different surgical workflows, the reduction of surgical complexity, and the use of a pre-surgical screening to detect patient at SARS-CoV-2 infection risk, could reduce the postoperative complications derived from that infection and improve surgical outcomes.