Back to normal: 1 year of early experience of surgical management of cancer patients during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic, a multi-institutional study in a developing country

Background During the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic, the surgical practice has been severely affected, and many nonemergency surgeries were postponed and rescheduled. This is considered to be harmful for cancer patients awaiting their definitive surgical treatment. To date, there is a shortage of large evidence-based studies providing clear guidelines for resuming routine management of these specific types of patients. Patients and methods A clinical multi-institutional prospective study was carried out on 1446 adult cancer patients operated with the intention of achieving a cure in the centers participating in this study in the past year under the unusual circumstances imposed by this widespread pandemic, aiming to share our experience in resuming surgical management of these special types of patients, with a focus on the short-term outcomes. Results The patients were allocated into two groups: the control group included 1178 patients and the task group included 252 patients. Due to the recent SARS-COV-2 infection, the most common type of surgery performed was breast cancer surgery (32.6, 30.2%) in both groups. The 30-day postoperative morbidity and mortality were comparable in both groups, but slightly higher in the task group (25.4, 3.2%). Patients more than 60 years, patients with two or more comorbidities, patients with American Society of Anesthesiologists score 3, and patients undergoing major surgery were more susceptible to developing postoperative complications. Conclusion Surgery for cancer patients can be safely resumed during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic, with caution in selected patients.