Anaesthetic Management of Pulmonary Metastasectomy in a Patient Infected with Novel Corona Virus SARS-CoV-2

Abstract

Prioritisation of individual patients for thoracic surgeries gained importance during the current COVID-19 pandemic to ensure optimal utilisation of resources. We report a 76-year-old-male patient who presented to a tertiary care hospital in Muscat, Oman, 2020, with bilateral pulmonary metastasis. The patient underwent an urgent pulmonary metastasectomy with successful anaesthesia management in an elderly patient despite him testing positive for COVID-19 twice via real-time reverse transcription–polymerase chain reaction. At the 3-month follow-up some pulmonary abnormalities persisted but the patient was recovering well. This report discusses the rationale to perform surgery in this case and highlights the precautions taken for reducing aerosol generation during the various stages of anaesthesia.
Keywords: COVID-19; Coronavirus Infections; One-Lung Ventilation; Personal Protective Equipment; Aerosols; Thoracic Surgical Procedures; Case Report; Oman.