Surgical treatment of patients with metastatic bone lesions during the COVID-19 pandemic

Introduction. In March 2020, the World Health Organization announced the COVID-19 as a pandemic. The emergence and spread of the new infection hit most healthcare systems globally. The pandemic caused temporary restrictions for elective medical care, which affected many patients at risk, including cancer patients, since some hospitals were closed for quarantine. Deferred pharmacotherapy, radiotherapy, and surgery in these individuals might have resulted in disease progression and even death. In this situation, healthcare professionals had to quickly adjust the manage ment strategy for cancer patients and identify an optimal approach to therapy with the lack of accurate data.

Objective – to assess the risk of COVID-19 in patients with metastatic bone lesions during hospitalization for elective surgery and 14 days after their discharge from hospital.

Materials and methods. In this article, we describe treatment of 182 patients with metastatic bone lesions treated in the Department of Surgical Treatment for Bone and Soft Tissue Tumors, National Medical Radiology Research Center, Ministry of Health of Russia between March 30, 2020 and August 1, 2021.

Results. Eleven patients developed symptoms of coronavirus infection during their stay in the hospital. The incidence of nosocomial COVID-19 was 6 % according to the results of testing. Timely diagnosis and initiation of special treatment ensured the survival rate of 100 %.

Conclusion. Adherence to epidemiological measures at all stages of hospitalization minimizes the risk of COVID-19 in patients with secondary bone lesions, allowing timely elective surgery. However, a tailored approach should be used when deciding on surgery during the pandemic.

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