Non intubated video-assisted thoracoscopic lung resections (NI-VATS) in COVID times

Abstract

The emergence of epidemic Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in December 2019 in Wuhan, China causing Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) and its rapid expansion around the world, leading to a global pandemic of dimensions not observed at least since the 'Spanish influenza' pandemic in 1917-18, has had great consequences at all levels, including social, health and economic spheres. This pandemic situation forces us, as health care workers, to redefine our medical and surgical actions to adapt them to this new reality. It is important, when the rules of the game change, to rethink and to reevaluate if the balance between risk and benefit have moved to a different point of equilibrium, and if our indications of certain surgical interventions need to be redefined. In this article we try to answer the doubts that arise about the suitability of the NI-VATS technique and assess whether its use in these new pandemic circumstances might add advantages, especially in relation to minimize the risks of virus contagion between patients and all healthcare personnel during the surgical procedure, as well as the known advantages described in many articles the last ten years.