The first cases of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-COV-2) infection,
the so-called 2019 novel COronaVIrus Disease (COVID-19), were first reported in Wuhan,
Hubei Province, China in December 2019 [1].
After 3 months and about 125,000 cases in more than 118 countries, on the 12th of
March, the WHO defined the spread of SARS-COV-2 as a pandemic [2].
Since the first case of SARS-CoV-2 was confirmed in Italy on the 21st of February,
the northern regions first [3] (because first shocked by the event) and then the southern
ones, to avoid further spread of infection, have closed schools, universities, museums,
and all other public places, also canceling all the events that could create crowds
such as football matches or musical concerts.
In this chaotic moment, the consequences of this severe and indispensable quarantine
have been overwhelming, especially on the Public Health System (Sistema Sanitario
Nazionale, SSN), with relevant differences from region to region.
Concerning the field of surgery, elective procedures, including day case surgeries,
have been canceled in favor of emergencies. Furthermore, many regions are trying to
identify centers of reference where oncological cases that are COVID-19 negative should
converge.
During these hard times, there was no possibility to define evidence-based clinical
practice guidelines even if several national and international scientific societies
are trying to develop recommendations based on common sense [4–6].
However, recommendations are prone to be modified during the evolution of the disease,
and it is necessary to review the literature and reassess each clinical case on a
daily basis to avoid any delay in diagnosis and treatment of colorectal diseases.
Our recommendations are tailored and based on the impact of the disease on the regional
health organizations and according to the emergency level of every single hospital
(Table 1). According to these stratifications, the possibility of transferring a patient
from a COVID-19 emergency hospital to a low emergency one, to guarantee the same high
standard of surgical care, should be considered.
Table 1
Priority level and activities
Priority level
Resources
Activities
High
Critical unavailability of hospital resources
All elective surgical and endoscopic cases should be postponed. Surgical care should
be limited to those patients with life-threatening conditions (lower gastrointestinal
bleeding, perforation, and obstruction), advanced symptomatic tumors or anorectal
emergencies
Moderate
Hospital resources close to exhaustion
Low
Overload of hospital resources
Elective oncological colorectal surgery procedures should be performed in COVID-19-negative
settings. Surgery for benign disease should be postponed until after the peak of the
pandemic is seen
Proctology is one of the subspecialties that has suffered the worst consequences related
to COVID-19. In fact, all the outpatient clinics and elective procedures have been
postponed with the exception of anorectal emergencies. In these cases, the use of
local anesthesia and/or sedation in an outpatient setting can be proposed to avoid
hospital admissions.
With regard to other proctological diseases, including functional disorders, a virtual
visit, the so-called “telemedicine”, must probably be considered as a first-line solution,
since it is safe and effective (in this emergency context) and provides a rapid access
to specialists who are not immediately available due to the viral outbreak. Furthermore,
patients could be temporarily aided through telephone calls, e-mail, or social media.
Screening and surveillance endoscopy and all the other diagnostic procedures such
as anoscopy, endoanal ultrasound, and anorectal manometry should be postponed according
to the recent evidence of fecal COVID-19 transmission and the persistence of the virus
in fecal samples for a longer period than in nasopharyngeal swabs [7–10]. Repici et
al. [11] have suggested screening all patients by phone the day before an endoscopic
procedure, by asking for the presence of symptoms in the last 14 days, a history of
contact with COVID-19 positive patients, and a travel history. The patient’s temperature
should be checked before the procedure and the patient should wear a surgical mask.
Upper or lower endoscopy in intermediate- or high-risk patients should be performed
wearing special protective equipment and in negative pressure rooms.
Whilst patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) taking immunosuppressive drugs
may be at higher risk of infection, the 2nd interview COVID-19 ECCO Taskforce [12]
has highlighted that there are no data demonstrating that immunosuppressive therapies
increase the risk of complicated COVID-19.
Patients with IBD who are suspected to have a COVID-19 infection, if they are not
at high risk of flare-up, should stop thiopurines, delay methotrexate injections and
delay biologics, and in particular, JAK inhibitors which decrease the number of lymphocytes.
Given the short course of the disease (3–4 weeks), these precautions are unlikely
to cause flare ups. Steroids have been used to control cytokine release in COVID-19
patients; however, the risks and benefits of steroid treatment in COVID-19-positive
IBD patients should be carefully weighed. Physicians are invited to register their
COVID-19-positive IBD patients on the SECURE-IBD (Surveillance Epidemiology of Coronavirus
Under Research Exclusion) website. As of the 23rd of March, a total of 41 patients
from 13 different countries were already enrolled [13].
The management of acute complicated diverticulitis depends on the clinical manifestations
and has not undergone changes following the outbreak of COVID-19. An initial conservative
approach with observation and antibiotic treatment is recommended. Meanwhile, in COVID-19
positive patients, open surgery may be preferred to laparoscopic surgery for Hinchey
3 and 4 patients to avoid aerosolized contamination as will be discussed later.
Recently, Aminian et al. [14] published a retrospective case series of 4 patients,
between 44 and 81 years of age in whom surgical treatment was planned (cholecystectomy,
hernia repair, gastric bypass, and cholecystectomy and hysterectomy), who were later
found to have COVID-19 infection.
Two patients developed postoperative ARDS and three of the four patients died, one
of them before the planned surgery. One patient only developed postoperative fever.
Based on this anecdotal evidence, Aminian et al. conclude that patients undergoing
elective surgery should be screened for COVID 19, that elective surgery should be
deferred in COVID-19 positive patients, and that postoperative fever and pulmonary
complications should raise the suspicion of COVID-19 infection.
We recommend that all patients were tested for SARS-COV-2 before any elective or emergency
surgical procedure, even if they are asymptomatic.
According to the recently published “Intercollegiate General Surgery Guidance on COVID-19”,
all patients requiring surgery should have a computed tomography (CT) scan of the
chest [4]. Finding of COVID-19 ribonucleic acid (RNA) in sputum using reverse transcriptase-polymerase
chain reaction (RT- PCR) may be used to confirm the diagnosis, but RT-PCR sensitivity
is lower than that of CT (60–80% vs 97%) [15].
In case of positive findings, elective surgery should be deferred, and in the case
of emergent surgery, the risk of increased mortality should be considered and an appropriate
consent form signed by the patient.
As far as colorectal cancer care is concerned, we found ourselves facing new problems
that have been dealt with in different ways in different regions of Italy according
to the capabilities of local health care systems. In the COVID-19 era, the number
of surgical procedures has been reduced everywhere, either because the need for anesthesiologists
and beds in intensive-care units (ICUs) for COVID-positive patients has increased
enormously, or because the immunosuppression induced by surgery may increase the risk
of COVID-19 infection. Based on these considerations and although delays in surgical
treatment beyond 2–3 months result in a higher recurrence rate [16], there have been
recommendations by societies and experts to delay surgical treatment for stage I and
stage II colorectal cancer for up to 6 months [17]. Moreover, neoadjuvant treatments
have been recommended for high-risk colon and rectal cancer to defer as long as possible
surgical admission [18] with the use of preoperative chemotherapy for colon cancer
[17] or of consolidation chemotherapy after either chemoradiation or short-course
radiotherapy for rectal cancer [19, 20].
However, while temporizing strategies may be useful in case of extreme scarcity of
heath care resources or in cases of serious threats to patient safety, the experience
which we have matured, especially in northern Italy during the last 2 months, leads
us to the following considerations for COVID-19-negative patients with colorectal
cancer:
We do not know when things will go back to normal. We cannot postpone surgical treatment
under the assumption that the risk of hospitalization will be lower in the near future.
Moreover, none of the proposed neoadjuvant treatments have been shown to be superior
to the more traditional approach and all involve prolonged chemotherapy that will
further impair the patient’s immune system increasing the risk of COVID-19 complications.
Hopefully, elective cancer care can be provided in selected and approved COVID-19-free
hospitals. In this ideal situation, all patients should be screened 24–48 h prior
to admission with a chest CT scan and the available rapid turnaround RT-PCR test.
All hospital personnel in COVID-19-free hospitals should also be screened by checking
their temperature at the hospital entrance and repeated sputum or nasal swab testing,
since, for such a system to work, it is necessary to reduce the risk of contamination
both from within and from without. Alternatively, if the implementation of COVID-19-free
hospitals is unfeasible, elective cancer care surgery may be offered by hospitals
where COVID-19-positive and COVID-19-negative patients are located in clearly separate
areas which include wards, operating rooms, ICUs, radiology and endoscopy units, and
personnel to reduce to a minimum the risk of infection.
In general, oncologic protocols should be applied following the current guidelines.
Among these protocols and whenever supported by the literature, treatment should be
minimized. For locally advanced rectal cancer, several recommendations are available
and supported by national and international guidelines. However, within this heterogeneous
group of rectal cancer patients, there are subgroups with different risks of recurrence
and prognosis (“The Good, the Bad and the Ugly”). Within the context of a pandemic
COVID-19 infection, it is reasonable to recommend less aggressive approaches for less
aggressive cancers. For example, on approaching rectal cancer determined by clinical
staging and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to be T3a-b N0 (The Good), upfront total
mesorectal excision could be the best treatment as the benefits of chemoradiation
therapy followed by total mesorectal excision in this group of patients are questionable.
Again, aggressive neoadjuvant therapies with induction or consolidation chemotherapy
should be reserved for cancers with the highest risk of recurrence (The Ugly) such
as those with infiltration of the mesorectal fascia or clearly positive nodes in the
mesorectum or pelvic extramesorectal lymph-node metastasis. Whenever possible, neoadjuvant
short-course radiotherapy should be preferred to neoadjuvant chemoradiation therapy
and adjuvant chemotherapy should be restricted to the cases where the benefits clearly
outweigh the risks, especially elderly patients. Exclusion or delayed surgery should
be recommended in those very exceptional situations where anesthesiologists or operating
rooms are unavailable, because they are being used to face the pandemic. All these
decisions should be made by a multidisciplinary oncology team and fully discussed
with patients.
As far as the surgical approach for colorectal cancer, the following considerations
apply:
Where non-surgical treatment may reach the same goal as surgical therapy, the non-surgical
treatment should be preferred. For example: stents should be preferred to palliative
resections. When evaluating different surgical options, the rate and severity of postoperative
complications should be considered. For example: in patients with low rectal cancer
and serious comorbidities with or without prior radiation, Hartmann’s procedure may
be preferred to the standard reconstruction which is at high risk for anastomotic
leak and likely will require a long recovery period and ICU admission. This applies
even more to COVID-19 positive patients.
Rectum-sparing approaches (watch and wait) have been suggested as an option in rectal
cancer patients with a complete or near-complete clinical response after neoadjuvant
therapy. We believe that rectum-sparing approaches are feasible, and oncological outcomes
such as overall survival and disease-free survival are likely comparable to those
after radical surgery provided that patient selection is optimal. However, as these
approaches are not standard of care, it seems reasonable to enter patients into prospective
studies where conservative approaches are evaluated [21]. Conversely, we discourage
rectum-sparing approaches outside of research protocols.
In conclusion, we believe that the COVID-19 epidemic should not lead to approaches
that impair oncologic results or expose patients to excessive morbidity. In COVID-19-negative
patients, elective surgery should be performed following the current guidelines, using
the least aggressive treatment possible and providing treatments in COVID-19-free
hospitals (hopefully) or in hospitals where COVID-19-positive and -negative patients
follow clearly separate pathways. In COVID-19-positive patients, recovery from the
infection is the priority and cancer surgery should be reserved only for life-threatening
situations. In both COVID-19-positive and COVID-19-negative cancer patients with an
emergent presentation, the treatment should be as conservative as possible, avoiding
surgery if feasible, using stent placement for stenosing cancer as bridge to surgery
or as palliative treatment. Hartmann’s procedure should be considered instead of a
low colorectal or coloanal anastomosis, or in presence of left-sided occlusion or
perforation. Ostomies should be strongly considered.
Other viruses have shown an increased release during laparoscopy with carbon dioxide.
The risk of aerosol exposure and subsequent infection for the surgical team during
a minimally invasive procedure is a potential issue [22] which has led scientific
societies to recommend performing open surgery in COVID-19-positive patients [4].
However, the potential hazards of laparoscopy (including robotic surgery) need to
be weighed against the benefits of a shorter length of stay and decreased complication
rate. Laparoscopic surgery in COVID-19-positive patients should be performed in a
negative pressure room if available, and an ultra-filtration (smoke evacuation system
or filtration) should be used, if available. All pneumoperitoneum should be safely
evacuated via a filtration system before closure, trocar removal, specimen extraction,
or conversion to open [6]. Moreover, appropriate trocar-size incisions to avoid air
leaks are strongly recommended and the use of cautery should be minimized to decrease
smoke concentration.
This period of rigorous quarantine is fundamental and necessary to reduce the spread
of the virus. Of course, the centralization of treatment of colorectal diseases in
some referral centers would be preferable, but common sense suggests that in these
months, all the available resources must be directed to the treatment of the COVID-19
infection.