Logistical Considerations and Clinical Outcomes Associated With Converting Operating Rooms Into an Intensive Care Unit During the Coronavirus Disease 2019 Pandemic in a New York City Hospital.

BACKGROUND: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) emerged as a public health crisis that disrupted normal patterns of health care in the New York City metropolitan area. In preparation for a large influx of critically ill patients, operating rooms (ORs) at NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center (NYP-Columbia) were converted into a novel intensive care unit (ICU) area, the operating room intensive care unit (ORICU). METHODS: Twenty-three ORs were converted into an 82-bed ORICU. Adaptations to the OR environment permitted the delivery of standard critical care therapies. Nonintensive-care-trained staff were educated on the basics of critical care and deployed in a hybrid staffing model. Anesthesia machines were repurposed as critical care ventilators, with accommodations to ensure reliable function and patient safety. To compare ORICU survivorship to outcomes in more traditional environments, we performed Kaplan-Meier survival analysis of all patients cared for in the ORICU, censoring data at the time of ORICU closure. We hypothesized that age, sex, and obesity may have influenced the risk of death. Thus, we estimated hazard ratios (HR) for death using Cox proportional hazard regression models with age, sex, and body mass index (BMI) as covariables and, separately, using older age (65 years and older) adjusted for sex and BMI. RESULTS: The ORICU cared for 133 patients from March 24 to May 14, 2020. Patients were transferred to the ORICU from other ICUs, inpatient wards, the emergency department, and other institutions. Patients remained in the ORICU until either transfer to another unit or death. As the hospital patient load decreased, patients were transferred out of the ORICU. This process was completed on May 14, 2020. At time of data censoring, 55 (41.4%) of patients had died. The estimated probability of survival 30 days after admission was 0.61 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.52-0.69). Age was significantly associated with increased risk of mortality (HR = 1.05, 95% CI, 1.03-1.08, P < .001 for a 1-year increase in age). Patients who were ≥65 years were an estimated 3.17 times more likely to die than younger patients (95% CI, 1.78-5.63; P < .001) when adjusting for sex and BMI. CONCLUSIONS: A large number of critically ill COVID-19 patients were cared for in the ORICU, which substantially increased ICU capacity at NYP-Columbia. The estimated ORICU survival rate at 30 days was comparable to other reported rates, suggesting this was an effective approach to manage the influx of critically ill COVID-19 patients during a time of crisis.

The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Surgical Management of Breast Cancer: Global Trends and Future Perspectives.

INTRODUCTION: The rapid spread of COVID-19 across the globe is forcing surgical oncologists to change their daily practice. We sought to evaluate how breast surgeons are adapting their surgical activity to limit viral spread and spare hospital resources. METHODS: A panel of 12 breast surgeons from the most affected regions of the world convened a virtual meeting on April 7, 2020, to discuss the changes in their local surgical practice during the COVID-19 pandemic. Similarly, a Web-based poll based was created to evaluate changes in surgical practice among breast surgeons from several countries. RESULTS: The virtual meeting showed that distinct countries and regions were experiencing different phases of the pandemic. Surgical priority was given to patients with aggressive disease not candidate for primary systemic therapy, those with progressive disease under neoadjuvant systemic therapy, and patients who have finished neoadjuvant therapy. One hundred breast surgeons filled out the poll. The trend showed reductions in operating room schedules, indications for surgery, and consultations, with an increasingly restrictive approach to elective surgery with worsening of the pandemic. CONCLUSION: The COVID-19 emergency should not compromise treatment of a potentially lethal disease such as breast cancer. Our results reveal that physicians are instinctively reluctant to abandon conventional standards of care when possible. However, as the situation deteriorates, alternative strategies of de-escalation are being adopted. IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: This study aimed to characterize how the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting breast cancer surgery and which strategies are being adopted to cope with the situation.

Open tracheostomy for COVID-19-positive patients: A method to minimize aerosolization and reduce risk of exposure.

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 virus is highly contagious, and thus there is a potential of infecting operating staff when operating on these patients. This case series describes a method of performing open tracheostomy for COVID-19 patients while minimizing potential aerosolization of the virus using typically available equipment and supplies. METHODS: This is a case series of 18 patients who were COVID-19-positive and underwent open tracheostomy in the operating room under a negative pressure plastic hood created using readily available equipment and supplies. Patients had to be intubated for at least 14 days, be convalescing from their cytokine storm, and deemed to survive for at least 14 more days. Other indications for tracheostomy were altered mental status, severe deconditioning, respiratory failure and failed extubation attempts. RESULTS: There were 14 men and 4 women with severe SARS-CoV2 infection requiring long-term intubation since March 23 or later. The mean age was 61.7 years, body mass index was 32.6, and the pretracheostomy ventilator day was 20.4 days. The indications for tracheostomy were altered mental status, severe deconditioning and continued respiratory with hypoxia. Failed extubation attempt rate was 16.7% and hemodialysis rate was 38.9%. All patients were hemodynamically stable, without any evidence of accelerating cytokine storm. To date there was one minor bleeding due to postoperative therapeutic anticoagulation. CONCLUSION: This report describes a method of performing open tracheostomy with minimal aerosolization using readily available equipment and supplies in most hospitals. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Therapeutic/care management, Level V.

Enhancing safety of laparoscopic surgery in COVID-19 era: clinical experience with low-cost filtration devices.

BACKGROUND: Surgery in the era of the current COVID-19 pandemic has been curtailed and restricted to emergency and certain oncological indications, and requires special attention concerning the safety of patients and health care personnel. Desufflation during or after laparoscopic surgery has been reported to entail a potential risk of contamination from 2019-nCoV through the aerosol generated during dissection and/or use of energy-driven devices. In order to protect the operating room staff, it is vital to filter the released aerosol. METHODS: The assemblage of two easily available and low-cost filter systems to prevent potential dissemination of Coronavirus via the aerosol is described. RESULTS: Forty-nine patients underwent laparoscopic surgeries with the use of one of the two described tools, both of which proved to be effective in smoke evacuation, without affecting laparoscopic visualization. CONCLUSION: The proposed systems are cost-effective, easily assembled and reproducible, and provide complete viral filtration during intra- and postoperative release of CO2.