ASA, APSF update recommendations for elective surgery after COVID-19 infection

Editor's Note

Because of recent studies, the evolving nature of COVID-19, and widespread vaccination, the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) and Anesthesia Patient Safety Foundation (APSF) on June 20 released a joint statement providing updated recommendations for the timing of elective surgery and anesthesia after COVID-19 infection.

The recommendations include:

• Patients with COVID-19 type symptoms should be screened and, if appropriate, tested before an elective procedure.
• Elective procedures should not occur within 2 weeks of COVID-19 infection.
• A patient’s physicians should conduct a risk assessment between 2 and 7 weeks after COVID-19 infection and, if low risk, consider rescheduling the procedure.
• Delay of surgery after 7 weeks should be considered if the patient still has COVID-19 symptoms.
• Facilities, surgeons, and anesthesiologists should track COVID-19 patient outcomes after elective surgery.

These recommendations help provide guidance on balancing the risk of delaying surgery with the risk of complications, ASA says.