Saeed Sadeghian

and 12 more

background and aim: world health organization (WHO) declared the novel coronavirus 2019 outbreak a pandemic on 11 March 2020. No data have been published so far regarding the COVID-19 patients undergoing cardiovascular surgery. Methods: Medical files of 503 patients undergoing cardiovascular surgery were evaluated. Sixty-four patients (12.7%) was diagnosed as COVID-19 cases after the surgery following getting symptomatic or detection of abnormality in their laboratory results. The valve surgery in one positive COVID-19 case was canceled due to his abnormal laboratory finding and suspicion to COVID-19. The patients’ clinical course and survival status were documented and analyzed. Results: Coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) was the most type of surgery in both positive and negative COVID-19 groups. In-hospital mortality was demonstrated in 6 (9.4%) and 10 (2.3%) patients in positive and negative COVID-19 groups, respectively. CABG had been performed in five COVID-19 deaths while one of the expired cases underwent valve surgery. The median of white blood cell (WBC) count and C-reactive protein (CRP) was higher and the percentage of lymphocyte was lower in patients who expired. Conclusions: We recommend to postpone all elective surgeries till the end of the crisis and limit the surgeries to only emergency situations. In these cases, the patient should be screened and get necessary medications if highly suspected. In borderline surgical indications, especially in individuals with history of contact to infection, we suggest to screen for COVID-19 before the surgery and monitor the patients closely afterward. All health-care staffs should use full personal protective equipment.