• Atsushi Oba, Thomas F Stoop, Matthias Löhr, Thilo Hackert, Nicholas Zyromski, William H Nealon, Michiaki Unno, Richard D Schulick, Mohammed H Al-Musawi, Wenming Wu, Yupei Zhao, Sohei Satoi, Christopher L Wolfgang, Mohammad Abu Hilal, Marc G Besselink, Marco Del Chiaro, and Pancreas Club, European Pancreatic Club, Chinese Pancreatic Surgery Association, European Consortium on Minimally Invasive Pancreatic Surgery, Study Group of Preoperative Therapy for Pancreatic Cancer, Study Group of Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma with .
• Division of Surgical Oncology, Department of Surgery, University of Colorado, Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, CO.
• Ann. Surg. 2020 Aug 1; 272 (2): e87-e93.

ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to clarify the role of pancreatic surgery during the COVID-19 pandemic to optimize patients' and clinicians' safety and safeguard health care capacity.Summary Background DataThe COVID-19 pandemic heavily impacts health care systems worldwide. Cancer patients appear to have an increased risk for adverse events when infected by COVID-19, but the inability to receive oncological care seems may be an even larger threat, particularly in case of pancreatic cancer.MethodsAn online survey was submitted to all members of seven international pancreatic associations and study groups, investigating the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on pancreatic surgery using 21 statements (April, 2020). Consensus was defined as >80% agreement among respondents and moderate agreement as 60% to 80% agreement.ResultsA total of 337 respondents from 267 centers and 37 countries spanning 5 continents completed the survey. Most respondents were surgeons (n = 302, 89.6%) and working in an academic center (n = 286, 84.9%). The majority of centers (n = 166, 62.2%) performed less pancreatic surgery because of the COVID-19 pandemic, reducing the weekly pancreatic resection rate from 3 [interquartile range (IQR) 2-5] to 1 (IQR 0-2) (P < 0.001). Most centers screened for COVID-19 before pancreatic surgery (n = 233, 87.3%). Consensus was reached on 13 statements and 5 statements achieved moderate agreement.ConclusionsThis global survey elucidates the role of pancreatic surgery during the COVID-19 pandemic, regarding patient selection for the surgical and oncological treatment of pancreatic diseases to support clinical decision-making and creating a starting point for further discussion.

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