Urology surgical activity and COVID‐19: Risk assessment at the epidemic peak the parisian multicenter experience

Ingels, Alexandre; Bibas, Steeven; Abdessater, Maher; Tabourin, Thomas; Roupret, Morgan; Chartier‐Kastler, Emmanuel; Barker, Gwendolyn; Tobbal, Nouha; Doizi, Steeve; Cussenot, Olivier; Prost, Doriane; Desgrandchamps, Francois; Ouzaid, Idir; Rollin, Paul; Hermieu, Jean‐Francois; Audenet, Francois; Userovici, Mickael; Mejean, Arnaud; Anract, Julien; Roux, Sabine; Peyromaure, Michael; Couteau, Nicolas; Lebacle, Cédric; Irani, Jacques; Vordos, Dimitri; Yiou, René; Hoznek, Andras; Champy, Cecile M; Da Costa, Jose Batista; De La Taille, Alexandre

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the risk of contracting severe COVID‐19, defined as COVID‐19 specific intensive care unit (ICU) admission or death, for patients undergoing urological surgery during the epidemic. To define consequences of receiving surgery for COVID‐19 patients. PATIENTS AND METHODS: This is a multicenter observational cohort study. Every patient receiving a urological procedure in Paris academic urological centers during the 4 initial weeks of surgical restrictions were included. Their status was updated minimum 3 weeks after the procedure. The main outcomes were the COVID‐19 specific ICU admission and death. Statistics were mostly descriptive. The Post‐operative COVID‐19 confirmed group was compared with non‐COVID patients using Chi‐square tests for categorical and Wilcoxon test tests for continuous variables. RESULTS: During the 4‐week period, 552 patients received surgery within 8 centers. At follow‐up, 57 (10%) patients were lost. Among the 11 preoperative COVID‐19 cases, one remained in ICU, no new admission, and no death. For the non‐COVID patients, 57 (12%) developed COVID‐related symptoms; only one case (0.2%) required COVID‐19 specific ICU and 3 (0.6%) patients died of COVID‐19 after surgery. CONCLUSIONS: Performing urological surgery during the COVID‐19 epidemic peak has a limited impact on ICU admissions but presents a real (0.6%) risk of specific mortality. Surgical activities should be maintained according to this risk.