Early in 2020, coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) quickly spread globally, giving rise to a pandemic. In this critical scenario, patients with lung cancer need to continue to receive optimal care and at the same be shielded from infection with the potentially severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. Upgrades to the prevention and control of infection have become paramount in order to lower the risk of hospital contagion. Aerosol-generating procedures such as endotracheal intubation or endoscopic procedures may expose health care workers to a high risk of infection. Moreover, thoracic anaesthesia usually requires highly complex airway management procedures because of the need for one-lung isolation and one-lung ventilation. Therefore, in the current pandemic, providing a fast-track algorithm for scientifically standardized diagnostic criteria and treatment recommendations for patients with lung cancer is urgent. Suggestions for improving existing contagion control guidelines are needed, even in the case of non-symptomatic patients who possibly are responsible for virus spread. A COVID-19-specific intraoperative management strategy designed to reduce risk of infection in both health care workers and patients is also required.
Keywords: 2019-nCoV; Coronavirus; Coronavirus disease 2019; Infection prevention and control; Lung cancer; SARS; Thoracic anaesthesia.
© The Author(s) 2020. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Association for Cardio-Thoracic Surgery. All rights reserved.