Finding Comfort in Discomfort Reflecting on Stories Told.

INTRODUCTION: The 2022 Presidential Address for the Association for Academic Surgery was focused on better understanding the personal and professional challenges faced by surgeons during the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS: As part of this work, we embarked on a listening tour, inviting surgeons from all over the country to tell us their stories. This led to forming a panel of five selected participants based on how their stories crosscut many of the most prevalent themes during those conversations. Here, we present thematic excerpts of the 2022 presidential panel, intending to capture that moment and challenge surgeons to contribute to an ever-evolving movement that pushes us to unpack some of our greatest areas of discomfort. RESULTS: We found that, in many ways, the COVID-19 pandemic brought into focus what many surgeons from marginalized groups have historically struggled with. Dominant themes from these conversations included the role of surgery in informing identity, the tensions between personal and professional identity, the consequences of maintaining medicine as an apolitical space, and reflections on initiatives to address inequities. Panelists also reflected on the hope that these conversations are part of a movement that leads to sustained change rather than a passing moment. CONCLUSIONS: The primary goal of this work was to center voices and experiences in a way that challenges us to become comfortable with topics that often cause discomfort, validate experiences, and foster a community that allows us to rethink what and whom we value in surgery. We hope this work serves as a guide to having these conversations in other institutions.

Pulmonary Vascular Complication Associated With Coronavirus Infection and Role of Lung Resection.

Pulmonary artery pseudoaneurysms are an uncommon diagnosis and have been minimally described in the coronavirus (COVID-19) literature. In our case, a 31-year-old man presented with severe acute hypoxic respiratory failure, stress cardiomyopathy, and combined septic and cardiogenic shock secondary to COVID-19 pneumonia and Streptococcus anginosus bacteremia. The patient had perfusing granulomas eroding into the pulmonary vasculature, causing impending hemothorax. Thoracic surgical procedures for infectious pulmonary artery pseudoaneurysms or perfusing granulomas in patients who have had COVID-19 should be performed selectively and with thoughtful perioperative planning to prevent the life-threatening complications of rupture and bleeding.