Pulmonary Lobectomy after COVID-19

Testori, Alberto; Perroni, Gianluca; Voulaz, Emanuele; Crepaldi, Alessandro; Alloisio, Marco

Concomitant Coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) is a major risk factor for complications in any type of surgical procedures especially in thoracic surgery were the primary organ involved, lung, is manipulated in order to perform parenchymal resection. However, it is not clear if previous infection from acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) may lead to increased morbidity and mortality for subsequent procedures once radiological resolution is achieved. In this first report, a young patient with lung cancer successfully underwent a right upper lobectomy for primary adenocarcinoma by VATS with no complication in the early postoperative phase. Rapid spread of SARS-CoV-2 increased number of patients presented at emergency department with respiratory distress related to COVID-19. More chest scans are performed along with nasal swab to correctly diagnose the novel syndrome, therefore chances to detect lung nodules increase and management of those patients may be difficult. When concomitant, COVID-19 increase complications of surgical procedure because subsequent immune impairment. However, no data are available whether or not previous infection generate persistent risk. We present first case of successful pulmonary lobectomy for lung cancer in patient with previous history of COVID-19.