Introduction

The novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic poses a substantial threat to the health of healthcare personnel on the front line of caring for COVID-19 patients. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services previously announced that all non-essential planned surgeries and procedures should be postponed until further notice and only urgent procedures should proceed.

Methods

We share our experiences with safely performing neurosurgical procedures on confirmed and suspected COVID-19 patients, to aide other neurosurgical teams in preparing for these high-risk cases, especially for neurosurgical interventions which are essential at saving a life or preserving functioning of the central nervous system that cannot be delayed. Perioperative and intraoperative strategies, considerations, as well as challenges arisen under the specific circumstance have been discussed: the hospital should be equipped with negative pressure areas and multiple areas to quarantine positive patients; the operating rooms should be negative pressure or have HEPA-filtration systems in place; all healthcare personnel who immediately participate in neurosurgical interventions for confirmed and suspected COVID-19 patients should take airborne precautions and wear enhanced personal protective equipment.

Results

Successful management of neurosurgical emergencies without healthcare personnel infection has been achieved during this pandemic crisis.

Conclusion

Following the proposed guidance, urgent neurosurgical surgeries and procedures can be safely performed for the benefit of critical patients with or suspected for COVID-19.

中文翻译：

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在COVID-19大流行期间安全地进行神经外科手术。

介绍

新型冠状病毒病（COVID-19）大流行对护理COVID-19患者的前线医护人员的健康构成了重大威胁。联邦医疗保险和医疗补助服务中心先前宣布，所有非必要的计划性手术和程序应推迟至另行通知，并且仅应执行紧急程序。

方法

我们分享了对已确诊和怀疑的COVID-19患者进行安全的神经外科手术的经验，以协助其他神经外科团队为这些高风险病例做准备，尤其是对于挽救生命或维护中枢神经功能至关重要的神经外科干预措施不可延迟的系统。讨论了围手术期和术中策略，考虑因素以及在特定情况下出现的挑战：医院应配备负压区域和多个区域以隔离阳性患者；手术室应为负压或配备HEPA过滤系统;

结果

在这场大流行危机期间，已经成功地管理了神经外科紧急情况而没有医护人员感染。

结论

遵循建议的指南，可以安全地执行紧急神经外科手术和程序，以帮助患有或怀疑患有COVID-19的重症患者。