The Journal of craniofacial surgery
-
All around world, the COVID-19 pandemic is accelerating, and any insight we can learn from our colleagues who have either encountered or are currently going through this will be used to protect our patients, our medical staff, and ourselves. No one knows to the best of our understanding whether or not COVID-19 includes the respiratory mucosal lining the middle ear and mastoid air cell system-but it seems probable they do. ⋯ Powered air purifying respirators are supplied even shorter than N95 masks, but strongly believed they are important for our team safety and protection. This mini review provides fundamental knowledge on otologic surgery feasibility in the COVID-19 pandemic from an objective perspective.
-
In late 2019, a novel coronavirus strain, SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2), also known as coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), triggered a global pandemic as the virus spread from the Wuhan Province, China, across all continents. Although infrequent, severe respiratory infection and death caused by SARS-CoV-2 is disproportionately high amongst healthcare providers such as craniofacial surgeons who work in the head and neck region. Factors this impact SARS-CoV-2 transmission include: (1) high viral loads in the mucosa of the oral and nasopharynx, (2) limited and/or imprecise disease screening/confirmation testing, (3) access to and appropriate use of personal protective equipment (PPE).
-
On January 8, 2020, a novel coronavirus was officially announced as the causative pathogen of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention. On February 26, COVID-19 has been recognized in 34 countries, with a total of 80,239 laboratory-confirmed patients and 2700 deaths. ⋯ In addition, being able to protect healthcare workers, constituting the front-line response against high-threat respiratory pathogens, such as severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, is important for reducing secondary transmission in healthcare-associated outbreaks. Authors present a simple, reliable, and cheap protocol to produce a custom-made sterilizable filtering facepiece 2/3 masks for healthcare providers during pandemic COVID-19 emergency.
-
In December of 2019, a novel virus known as severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) produced a cluster of viral pneumonia cases in Wuhan, China. In the United States (US), New York City was particularly devastated, with the volume and acuity of patients placing an unprecedented strain on the hospital system and health care workers. ⋯ Comfort's mission to New York City was dynamic, and required special adaptation to care for both COVID positive and COVID negative patients. Neuroplastic surgery procedures were indicated in both COVID positive and COVID negative patients, and lessons learned with regard to performance of complex surgery in an unfamiliar environment consisted of developing a thorough understanding of ones capabilities, and working with a highly skilled team of Navy surgeons, anesthesiologists, and surgical support staff, in order to provide high quality care in a deployment platform.