Anesthesia for Patients Undergoing Anesthesia for Elective Thoracic Surgery During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Consensus Statement from the Israeli Society of Anesthesiologists for Patients Undergoing Anesthesia for Elective Thoracic Surgery During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Shaylor, Ruth; Verenkin, Vladimir; Matot, Idit

Anesthesia for thoracic surgery requires specialist intervention in order to provide adequate operating conditions and one-lung ventilation. The pandemic caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus-2 (SARS COV-2)(COVID-19) is transmitted by aerosol and droplet spread. Due to its virulence, there is a risk of transmission to healthcare workers if appropriate preventive measures are not taken. COVID-19 patients may show no clinical signs at the early stages of the disease or even remain asymptomatic for the whole course of the disease. Despite the lack of symptoms, they may be able to transfer the virus. Unfortunately, current COVID-19 testing procedures around 30% of tests are associated with a false negative result. For these reasons standard practice is to assume all patients are COVID-19 positive regardless of swab results. Here we present the recommendations produced by the Israeli Society of Anesthesiologists for use in thoracic anesthesia for elective surgery during the COVID-19 pandemic for both the general population and COVID-19 confirmed patients. The objective of these recommendations is to make changes to some routine techniques in thoracic anesthesia to augment patients' and medical staff's safety.