Postoperative outcomes in patients undergoing elective general surgery after recovery from Covid-19 at a tertiary care centre: A one-year case series.

Background Planned elective surgery had to be postponed for a large number of patients who tested positive for Covid-19 in the preoperative period. We aimed to assess the postoperative outcomes of patients who were operated on for elective indications, following recovery from Covid-19 infection. Methods We did a retrospective study of patients who underwent elective general surgery between 1 April 2020 and 31 March 2021, following recovery from Covid-19. The 30-day postoperative morbidity and mortality were analysed. The data relevant for the study were retrieved from the hospital's electronic medical records. Results Of the 109 patients included, 54.1% were women and the median (range) age was 49 (16-76) years; 53.2% of operations were performed for benign indications and the rest were for malignancies. Eighty-five (78%) patients underwent surgery following recovery from an asymptomatic Covid-19 infection and 23 (21.1%) patients following recovery from mild Covid-19 infection; 73.3% of the operations were performed following a planned delay of 2- 5 weeks from the diagnosis of Covid-19. The 30-day major postoperative morbidity (Clavien-Dindo grade ≥3) was 6.4%, the postoperative pulmonary morbidity was 0.9%, and there was no 30-day mortality. Conclusions Elective general surgical procedures can be done safely in patients who have recovered from asymptomatic and mild Covid-19 infection, following a minimum wait period of 2 weeks.

The incidence of deep venous thrombosis in high-risk Indian neurosurgical patients: Need for early chemoprophylaxis?

INTRODUCTION: Deep venous thrombosis (DVT) is thought to be less common in Asians than in Caucasian population. The incidence of DVT in high-risk groups, especially the neurosurgical (NS) patients, has not been well studied. This leaves no firm basis for the start of early prophylactic anticoagulation within first 5 postoperative days in Indian NS patients. This is a prospective observational study to determine the early occurrence of DVT in the NS patients. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We screened 137 consecutive high-risk NS patients based on inclusion and exclusion criteria. The femoral veins were screened using Doppler ultrasound on day 1, 3, and 5 of admission into the NS Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at tertiary center from South India. RESULTS: Among 2887 admissions to NICU 147 patients met inclusion criteria. One hundred thirty seven were screened for DVT. There was a 4.3% (6/137) incidence of DVT with none of the six patients having signs or symptoms of pulmonary embolism. Among the risk factors studied, there was a significant association with femoral catheterization and a probable association with weakness/paraparesis/paraplegia. The mortality in the study group was 10.8% with none attributable to DVT or pulmonary embolism. CONCLUSION: There is a low incidence of DVT among the high risk neurosurgical population evaluated within the first 5 days of admission to NICU, limiting the need for early chemical thrombo-prophylaxis in these patients. With strict protocols for mechanical prophylaxis with passive leg exercise, early mobilization and serial femoral Doppler screening, heparin anticoagulation can be restricted within the first 5 days of ICU admission in high risk patients.