The perioperative management of subarachnoid hemorrhage during Coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic in CHINA: case series report

Zeng, Min; Li, Shu; Li, Muhan; Yan, Xiang; Li, Ruowen; Dong, Jia; zhang, Yuewei; Miao, Zhongrong; Wang, Shuo; Peng, Yuming; Han, Ruquan

Abstract Background For most of the international community out of the epicenter, Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) containment is normalizing, and daily medical practice is paralleling with preventing and treating COVID-19. The experience of simultaneously conducting emergent surgery and infection control for COVID-19 disease is needed during the pandemic from the outside of epicenter. Methods In this single-center, retrospective, and observational study, we enrolled patients with subarachnoid haemorrhage (SAH) who were emergently admitted from January 23 to April 8, 2020. Based on the COVID-19 triage, SAH patients were divided into three categories: positive, negative, and under investigation. Results During 77 days, a total of 90 SAH patients were admitted at the center. The median age was 55 years (range: 18 to 80) and 40 (44.4%) patients were male. None was positive, 42 patients were negative and 48 patients were under investigation for COVID-19 before surgery. During the same period, nine patients diagnosed COVID-19 without nosocomial infection. Conclusions Rescuing SAH patients and containment of COVID-19 benefit from joint prevention and control, centralized system of equipment distribution and personnel assignment, and quick workflow establishment.