• Katherine C Wai, Mary Jue Xu, Rex H Lee, Ivan H El-Sayed, Jonathan R George, Chase M Heaton, P Daniel Knott, Andrea M Park, William R Ryan, Rahul Seth, and Patrick K Ha.
• Department of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, University of California, San Francisco, California, USA.
• Head Neck. 2021 Feb 1; 43 (2): 622-629.

BackgroundGuidelines regarding head and neck surgical care have evolved during the coronavirus-19 (COVID-19) pandemic. Data on operative management have been limited.MethodsWe compared two cohorts of patients undergoing head and neck or reconstructive surgery between March 16, 2019 and April 16, 2019 (pre-COVID-19) and March 16, 2020 and April 16, 2020 (COVID-19) at an academic center. Perioperative, intraoperative, and postoperative outcomes were recorded.ResultsThere were 63 operations during COVID-19 and 84 operations during pre-COVID-19. During COVID-19, a smaller proportion of patients had benign pathology (12% vs 20%, respectively) and underwent thyroid procedures (2% vs 23%) while a greater proportion of patients underwent microvascular reconstruction±ablation (24% vs 12%,). Operative times increased, especially among patients undergoing microvascular reconstruction±ablation (687 ± 112 vs 596 ± 91 minutes, P = .04). Complication rates and length of stay were similar.ConclusionsDuring COVID-19, perioperative outcomes were similar, operative time increased, and there were no recorded transmissions to staff or patients. Continued surgical management of head and neck cancer patients can be provided safely.© 2020 Wiley Periodicals LLC.

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