COVID-19 in the perioperative period of lung resection: a brief report from a single thoracic surgery department in Wuhan, China.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an emerging infectious disease that was first reported in Wuhan, China, and has subsequently spread worldwide. Clinical information on patients contracted with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection in the perioperative period is limited. Here we report seven cases who were confirmed infected with SARS-CoV-2 in the perioperative period of lung resection. Retrospective analysis suggested that one patient had been infected with the SARS-CoV-2 prior to the surgery, the other 6 patients contracted the infection after the lung resection. Fever, lymphopenia and ground-glass opacities on computerized tomography (CT) are the most common clinical manifestations of COVID-19 in patients after lung resection surgery. Pathology studies of the specimens of these 7 patients were performed. The pathological examination of Patient 1, who was infected the SARS-CoV-2 before the surgery, revealed that apart from the tumor, there was a wide range of interstitial inflammation with plasma cells and macrophages infiltration. High density of macrophages and foam cells in the alveolar cavities but no obvious proliferation of pneumocyte was found. Three out seven patients died from COVID-19 pneumonia, suggesting that lung resection surgery might be a risk factor for death in patients with COVID-19 in the perioperative period.