[Features of surgical patients of COVID-19 patients]

The novel coronavirus pandemic has significantly increased the workload of surgical service worldwide. Restrictive measures led to postponement of elective surgical and diagnostic interventions and reduced the number of emergency manipulations around the world. Large-scale studies identified optimal period for postponing surgical procedures and advisability of this postponement. The authors present opinions of surgeons and their views on treatment strategy for various elective and emergency surgical interventions in abdominal surgery, traumatology-orthopedics and oncology. The main factors reducing perioperative mortality in patients with a new coronavirus infection are observance of anti-epidemic measures by patients and medical personnel, competent use of personal protective equipment, as well as adherence to protocols and algorithms for the treatment of these patients.

Emergency surgical care for patients with COVID-19 and tuberculosis coinfection at multispecialty hospital

The double burden of the novel coronavirus infection and tuberculosis (TB) is a global challenge. The aspects of emergency surgical care for patients with COVID-19 and TB coinfection remain understudied. The aim of this study was to assess treatment outcomes in acute surgical patients with COVID-19 and preexisting TB coinfection. In 2020, our Center delivered surgical care to 465 patients with COVID-19 and preexisting TB; a total of 64 emergency surgeries were performed on 36 (5.6%) patients, of whom 16 had HIV. Thirteen patients (36.1%) were diagnosed with pulmonary TB; 23 patients (63.9%) had disseminated TB. Chest CT scans showed >25% lung involvement in 61.9% of the patients with COVID-19 pneumonia, 25–50% lung involvement in 30.6% of the patients, and 50–75% lung involvement in 5.6% of the patients. By performing abdominal CT, we were able to detect abdominal TB complications, including perforated tuberculous ulcers of the intestine, intestinal obstruction and tuberculous peritonitis, as well as tuberculous spondylitis complicated by psoas abscess. Of all surgical interventions, 28.2% were abdominal, 23.2% were thoracic, 15.6% were surgeries for soft tissue infection, and 32.8% were other types of surgery. Postoperative mortality was 22.2%. We conclude that COVID-19 did not contribute significantly to postoperative mortality among acute surgical patients with TB.