Letter to the Editor
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2021. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Virol. Nov 25, 2021; 10(6): 326-328
Published online Nov 25, 2021. doi: 10.5501/wjv.v10.i6.326
Evaluation of an asymptomatic COVID-19 patient post-surgery with chest radiography: A surgeon’s dilemma
Gaurav Govil, Lavindra Tomar, Pawan Dhawan
Gaurav Govil, Lavindra Tomar, Pawan Dhawan, Department of Orthopaedics, Max Super Speciality Hospital, Patparganj, Delhi 110092, India
Author contributions: Govil G performed the study conception and design, and manuscript writing and revision; Tomar L contributed to the conception and revision of the manuscript into its final form; Dhawan P performed manuscript revision; all authors read and approved the final manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Gaurav Govil, MBBS, MS, Surgeon, Department of Orthopaedics, Max Super Speciality Hospital, Patparganj, 108 A, I.P. Extension, Delhi 110092, India. gauravgovil@yahoo.co.in
Received: May 27, 2021
Peer-review started: May 27, 2021
First decision: July 31, 2021
Revised: August 12, 2021
Accepted: November 14, 2021
Article in press: November 14, 2021
Published online: November 25, 2021
Abstract

Routine chest radiography is not a requirement in post-surgery cardiac bypass patients. However, the safety of abandoning routine chest radiographs in critically ill patients remains uncertain. Surgery in an asymptomatic coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patient presents additional challenges in postoperative management. Chest radiography remains a valuable tool for assessment of all patients, even a stable one. Management of surgical patients as an emergency in an asymptomatic COVID-19 case remains a surgeon’s dilemma.

Keywords: COVID-19, Cardiac surgery, Radiography, Critical care, Chest radiography, Intensive care, Postoperative

Core Tip: Spallanzani guidelines consider chest radiographs as a valuable tool for initial assessment and follow-up of coronavirus disease 2019 patients, even in stable asymptomatic patients. A high index of suspicion will reduce the risk of high fatal postoperative outcomes.