Research from JAMA Surgery — Portomesenteric Thrombosis Following Laparoscopic Bariatric Surgery — Incidence, Patterns of Clinical Presentation, and Etiology in a Bariatric Patient Population

Background: In December 2019, a novel coronavirus was identified as the cause of many pneumonia cases in China and eventually declared as a pandemic as the virus spread globally. Few reports were published on the outcome of surgical procedures in diagnosed COVID‐19 patients and even fewer on the surgical outcomes of asymptomatic undiagnosed COVID‐19 surgical patients. We aimed to review all published data regarding surgical outcomes of preoperatively asymptomatic untested coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) patients. Methods: This report is a review on the perioperative period in COVID‐19 patients who were preoperatively asymptomatic and not tested for COVID‐19. Searches were conducted in PubMed April 4th, 2020. All publications, of any design, were considered for inclusion. Results: Four reports were identified through our literature search, comprising 64 COVID‐19 carriers, of them 51 were diagnosed only in the postoperative period. Synthesis of these reports, concerning the postoperative outcomes of patients diagnosed with COVID‐19 during the perioperative period, suggested a 14/51 (27.5%) postoperative mortality rate and severe mostly pulmonic complications, as well as medical staff exposure and transmission. Conclusions: COVID‐19 may have potential hazardous implications on the perioperative course. Our review presents results of unacceptable mortality rate and a high rate of severe complications. These observations warrant further well‐designed studies, yet we believe it is time for a global consideration of sampling all asymptomatic patients before surgical treatment.