• Marcello Di Martino, Javier García Septiem, Rocío Maqueda González, Jose Luis Muñoz de Nova, Ángela de la Hoz Rodríguez, Alba Correa Bonito, and Elena Martín-Pérez.
• Servicio de Cirugía General y del Aparato Digestivo, Hospital Universitario La Princesa, Madrid, España. Electronic address: marcellodima@gmail.com.
• Cir Esp. 2020 Nov 1; 98 (9): 525-532.

IntroductionThe spread of the SARS-CoV-2 infection (COVID-19) has required adaptation by hospitals affected by the pandemic, which has caused a reduction in elective surgical activity.MethodsRetrospective study of patients operated on in the previous month and during the peak of the pandemic. We analysed the COVID-19 infection rate, the severity of respiratory infection according to the Brescia respiratory COVID-19 severity scale, the adopted therapeutic measures and the overall postoperative complications.ResultsFrom 17th February to 31st March 2020, there was a progressive decrease in surgical activity, with only 213 patients operated on. This comprised 59 (27.8%) elective operations for oncological diseases, 97 (45.5%) elective operations for benign diseases and 57 (26.7%) as urgent procedures.There was a progressive increase in the rate of infection by COVID-19, with a total of 15 cases (7%). This included 10 patients (16.9%) in the elective group for oncological disease, 1 (1%) in the elective surgery group for benign disease and 4 (7%) in the urgent surgery group (p < 0.001). Five patients presented with a severe respiratory infection, of which 4 were affected by oncological disease. There were 3 deaths (1.4%), which were all due to the worsening of a respiratory infection.ConclusionsThe patients undergoing the surgical procedures showed high rates of COVID-19 infection and postoperative complications, especially the patients with oncological diseases. Local resumption of surgical activity must be based on the prioritisation of the cases to be operated on, respecting certain premises of security and optimisation of the available resources.© 2020 AEC. Published by Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.

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