Alliance for Pandemic Preparedness

May 14, 2020

COVID-19 in Post-Operative Patients: Imaging Findings

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  • COVID-19 clinical manifestations are similar to septic, thoracic, or gastrointestinal post-surgical complications. Moliere and Veillon recommend that patients who develop acute post-operative symptoms should receive chest computed tomography (CT) scans. Among 46 post-operative patients with acute symptoms, they found that 17% (n=8) were diagnosed with COVID-19 via chest CT scan (confirmed by PCR an average 1.2 days later). Among these patients, 5 required mechanical ventilation and 2 died.  
  • These findings suggest that COVID-19 is associated with significant morbidity and mortality among post-operative patients. 

Moliere and Veillon. (May 13, 2020). COVID-19 in Post-Operative Patients: Imaging Findings. Surgical Infections. https://doi.org/10.1089/sur.2020.169