Critical Considerations for Hepatopanceratobilliary Surgeries During COVID-19 Pandemic

Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) has emerged as a worldwide pandemic since late December 2019 in Wuhan, China, with severe respiratory symptoms (1, 2). As we are currently in the middle of this pandemic, planning and prioritizing to provide elective surgery services to patients are of great importance. In our opinion, several factors should be considered when performing elective surgical procedures during the epidemic of COVID-19. These factors are also important for hepatopancreatobiliary cancers. Therefore, in addition to the need for updating the surgical recommendations at short intervals based on new data and information, it is necessary to consider the specialist views of other involved disciplines in designing guidelines for the treatment of hepatopancreatobiliary cancers. Several factors have been suggested for decision making about elective surgery, including the risk of mortality due to COVID-19, hospital resources and facilities, the risk of surgery, and the effectiveness of surgical treatment (3, 4).