Continuing surgical care in cancer patients during the nationwide lockdown in the COVID-19 pandemic—Perioperative outcomes from a tertiary care cancer center in India

Abstract

Background: The coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has disrupted management of non-COVID-19 illnesses, including cancer. For many solid organ cancers, surgical intervention is imperative. We present our experience with major operations during a nationwide lockdown. Method: This was an observational study of 184 patients, analyzing their perioperative outcomes and categorizing morbidity according to Clavien-Dindo Classification. Strict screening required symptomatic patients to be referred to COVID centers and their operations postponed. Continuous and categorical variables were expressed as medians with range and frequencies and percentages, respectively. A two-sided α