Treatment strategy for gastrointestinal tumor under the outbreak of novel coronavirus pneumonia in China / 中华胃肠外科杂志

ABSTRACT

The outbreak of the novel coronavirus pneumonia (NCP) has become a public health emergency in China. Chinese authorities and health agencies had devoted great efforts to control this disease. As surgeons specialized in the treatment of gastrointestinal tumors, we should always be aware of the prevention for NCP and incorporate this awareness into every detail of clinical practice. For the patients with gastrointestinal tumors, pre-admission screening should be done in order to rule out NCP. Real-time RT-PCR panel and chest CT scan should be conducted for patients with fever (>37.3℃), travel history to Hubei Province within 14 days, or contact history with residents from Wuhan district within 14 days. Prevention measures for both medical staffs and the screen-negative admitted patients should also be enhanced because false negative is possible. Medical instruments should be properly discarded or disinfected according to standardized procedures established by the local center for disease control and prevention (CDC). Surgical operation should be reduced at a minimal level to prevent cross infection in this special period.Surgical intervention for benign tumor should be postponed. For malignant tumor, multidisciplinary therapy (MDT) is recommended and non-surgical anti-tumor therapy should be selected with higher priority. Neoadjuvant therapy is highly recommended for gastrointestinal cancer at advanced stages that meet the indications of NCCN guideline (gastric cancer T stage ≥ 2/rectal cancer T stage ≥ 3/unresectable colon cancer). Gastric or esophagogastricjunction (EGJ) malignant tumor with obstruction can be managed with gastric tube decompression or stent placement to relieve the symptoms. Transnasal enteral feeding tube intubation/percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy could be adopted to ensure enteral nutrition supply. For colorectal malignancy with simple intestinal obstruction, stent placement can achieve a high success rate, which not only helps avoid emergency surgery, but also creates a better condition for subsequent surgery. Transcatheter arterial embolization for hemostasis is an alternative choice for gastrointestinal tumor with bleeding. However, emergency operation still must be performed for patients with acute uncontrolled bleeding, obstruction or after other alternative treatment measures fail. All cases with suspicious or confirmed with NCP must be reported to the local CDC department. All invasive intervention must be performed in a designated isolation area. Tertiary prevention measure must be adopted for all anesthetists with additional face mask or medical goggle protection to prevent respiratory droplet transmission. Preventive enterostomy is preferable in lower digestive tract surgery. Thoroughly disinfecting the operating room after surgery is necessary. Fever after surgery must be carefully differentiated whether it's caused by post-surgery abdominal infection/inflammation or NCP. Single-room isolation and related examinations should be performed according to the standard procedures. We believe that with the unprecedentedly joint efforts of doctors and patients, we will eventually win this war against NCP.