Early postoperative outcomes among patients with delayed surgeries after preoperative positive test for SARS‐CoV‐2: A case‐control study from a single institution

Baiocchi, Glauco; Aguiar, Samuel; Duprat, Joao P.; Coimbra, Felipe J. F.; Makdissi, Fabiana B.; Vartanian, José G.; Zequi, Stenio de C.; Gross, Jefferson L.; Nakagawa, Suely A.; Yazbek, Guilherme; Diniz, Thiago P.; Gonçalves, Bruna T.; Zurstrassen, Charles E.; Campos, Heloisa G. do A.; Joaquim, Eduardo H. G.; França e Silva, Ivan A.; Kowalski, Luiz P.

BACKGROUND: There are limited data on surgical complications for patients that have delayed surgery after severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‐CoV‐2) infection. We aimed to analyze the surgical outcomes of patients submitted to surgery after recovery from SARS‐CoV‐2 infection. METHODS: Asymptomatic patients that had surgery delayed after preoperative reverse‐transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT‐PCR) for SARS‐CoV‐2 were matched in a 1:2 ratio for age, type of surgery and American Society of Anesthesiologists to patients with negative RT‐PCR for SARS‐CoV‐2. RESULTS: About 1253 patients underwent surgical procedures and were subjected to screening for SARS‐CoV‐2. Forty‐nine cases with a delayed surgery were included in the coronavirus disease (COVID) recovery (COVID‐rec) group and were matched to 98 patients included in the COVID negative (COVID‐neg) group. Overall, 22 (15%) patients had 30‐days postoperative complications, but there was no statistically difference between groups –16.3% for COVID‐rec and 14.3% for COVID‐neg, respectively (odds ratio [OR] 1.17:95% confidence interval [CI] 0.45–3.0; p = .74). Moreover, we did not find difference regarding grades more than or equal to 3 complication rates – 8.2% for COVID‐rec and 6.1% for COVID‐neg (OR 1.36:95%CI 0.36‐5.0; p = .64). There were no pulmonary complications or SARS‐CoV‐2 related infection and no deaths within the 30‐days after surgery. CONCLUSIONS: Our study suggests that patients with delayed elective surgeries due to asymptomatic preoperative positive SARS‐CoV‐2 test are not at higher risk of postoperative complications.