Background
COVID-19 pandemic has changed many aspects of our lives in the past few
months. This disease has started from Hubei provenience of China in
2019, December and eventually it became a global pandemic by March 2020
involving more than 214 countries1. During the time of
drafting (24/04/2020) as per the global data, around 27 million people
have been tested positive, while more than 188,000 succumbed to the
disease2. This is primarily a respiratory tract
infection transmitted by human to human contact, respiratory droplets
and aerosols.3
The epidemiology of head and neck cancer varies among geographical
regions, worldwide yearly more than 650,000 cases of head and neck
cancers are detected and 330,000 deaths are attributed to
it4. Asia has around 57 % of the global burden of
head and neck cancer patients as well as the maximum number of
deaths5. It was projected that by year2020, South-east
Asia will have a steep increase (75%) in the number of cancer
deaths.6
Due to the high rate of infectivity, Health care workers are faced with
a daunting task, while performing duty in the time this pandemic.
Recently, some recommendations and protocols have been put forward by
various researchers to deal with practices in head and neck surgeries,
plastic surgery but points in post-cancer reconstruction need to be
discussed.7,8 this article aims to discuss available
evidence and provide key suggestions, specifically for head and neck
onco-reconstruction and microvascular surgery, as well as offer
guidelines to enhance infection control, patient safety, and resource
management. Do we compromise the quality of reconstruction or adopt
certain changes to suit the present scenario?