Anesthetic Management of Patients with Suspected 2019 Novel Coronavirus Infection During Emergency Procedures

Abstract Objectives To prevent cross-infection in the operating rooms by taking anesthesia management procedures for emergency procedures in patients with confirmed or suspected 2019-nCoV, and report clinical and anesthesia-related characteristics of these patients. Design This was a retrospective, multicenter clinical study. Setting This study used a multicenter dataset from four hospitals in Wuhan, China. Participants Patients and healthcare providers with confirmed or suspected 2019-nCoV from Jan 23 to Jan 31, 2020, at Wuhan Union Hospital, Wuhan Children's Hospital, The Central Hospital of Wuhan and Wuhan Fourth Hospital in Wuhan, China. Interventions Anesthetic management and infection control guidelines for emergency procedures in patients with suspected 2019-nCoV were drafted and applied in four hospitals in Wuhan. Measurements and Main Results Cross-infection in the operating rooms of these four hospitals has been effectively reduced by taking these measures and procedures. As for patients with laboratory-confirmed 2019-nCoV infection or suspected infection, majority of them were female (23 [62%] of 37); with a mean age of 41.0 years old (SD, 19.6; range, 4 to 78). Ten (27%) patients had chronic medical illness, including 4 (11%) with diabetes, 8 (22%) with hypertension, and 8 (22%) with digestive system disease. Twenty-five (68%) patients showed lymphopenia and 23 (62%) patients exhibited multiple mottling and ground-glass opacity on CT scanning. Conclusions Our study indicated that 2019-nCoV specific guidelines for emergency procedures in patients with confirmed or suspected 2019-nCoV may effectively prevent cross-infection in the operating rooms. Most patients with confirmed or suspected 2019-nCoV presented with fever, dry cough, and developed bilateral multiple mottling and ground-glass opacity on chest CT scans.