Surgical Outcomes in Benign Gynecologic Surgery Patients during the COVID-19 Pandemic (SOCOVID study).

STUDY OBJECTIVE: To determine the incidence of perioperative coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in women undergoing benign gynecologic surgery and to evaluate perioperative complication rates in patients with active, previous, or no previous severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infection. DESIGN: A multicenter prospective cohort study. SETTING: Ten institutions in the United States. PATIENTS: Patients aged >18 years who underwent benign gynecologic surgery from July 1, 2020, to December 31, 2020, were included. All patients were followed up from the time of surgery to 10 weeks postoperatively. Those with intrauterine pregnancy or known gynecologic malignancy were excluded. INTERVENTIONS: Benign gynecologic surgery. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: The primary outcome was the incidence of perioperative COVID-19 infections, which was stratified as (1) previous COVID-19 infection, (2) preoperative COVID-19 infection, and (3) postoperative COVID-19 infection. Secondary outcomes included adverse events and mortality after surgery and predictors for postoperative COVID-19 infection. If surgery was delayed because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the reason for postponement and any subsequent adverse event was recorded. Of 3423 patients included for final analysis, 189 (5.5%) postponed their gynecologic surgery during the pandemic. Forty-three patients (1.3% of total cases) had a history of COVID-19. The majority (182, 96.3%) had no sequelae attributed to surgical postponement. After hospital discharge to 10 weeks postoperatively, 39 patients (1.1%) became infected with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. The mean duration of time between hospital discharge and the follow-up positive COVID-19 test was 22.1 ± 12.3 days (range, 4-50 days). Eleven (31.4% of postoperative COVID-19 infections, 0.3% of total cases) of the newly diagnosed COVID-19 infections occurred within 14 days of hospital discharge. On multivariable logistic regression, living in the Southwest (adjusted odds ratio, 6.8) and single-unit increase in age-adjusted Charlson comorbidity index (adjusted odds ratio, 1.2) increased the odds of postoperative COVID-19 infection. Perioperative complications were not significantly higher in patients with a history of positive COVID-19 than those without a history of COVID-19, although the mean duration of time between previous COVID-19 diagnosis and surgery was 97 days (14 weeks). CONCLUSION: In this large multicenter prospective cohort study of benign gynecologic surgeries, only 1.1% of patients developed a postoperative COVID-19 infection, with 0.3% of infection in the immediate 14 days after surgery. The incidence of postoperative complications was not different in those with and without previous COVID-19 infections.

RI-1: a chemical inhibitor of RAD51 that disrupts homologous recombination in human cells.

Homologous recombination serves multiple roles in DNA repair that are essential for maintaining genomic stability. We here describe RI-1, a small molecule that inhibits the central recombination protein RAD51. RI-1 specifically reduces gene conversion in human cells while stimulating single strand annealing. RI-1 binds covalently to the surface of RAD51 protein at cysteine 319 that likely destabilizes an interface used by RAD51 monomers to oligomerize into filaments on DNA. Correspondingly, the molecule inhibits the formation of subnuclear RAD51 foci in cells following DNA damage, while leaving replication protein A focus formation unaffected. Finally, it potentiates the lethal effects of a DNA cross-linking drug in human cells. Given that this inhibitory activity is seen in multiple human tumor cell lines, RI-1 holds promise as an oncologic drug. Furthermore, RI-1 represents a unique tool to dissect the network of reaction pathways that contribute to DNA repair in cells.

Best practices for repair of iatrogenic bladder injury.

Gynecologic surgery carries a known risk of injury to the urinary tract, especially in the presence of risk factors. Injury to the bladder, particularly a mechanical injury, is more common than injury to the ureter. Urinary tract injuries occur in 0.3% to 0.8% of all gynecologic procedures, and injuries to the bladder occur in 0.05% to 0.66% of such surgeries. The risk of bladder injury increases in hysterectomy procedures. Most research studies have cited occurrence of bladder injuries to be 1.0% to 1.8% in laparoscopically assisted vaginal hysterectomies and vaginal hysterectomies. Despite its frequency, there is limited research on best practices for bladder injury repair. The authors performed a literature search through the PubMed database using the terms "bladder anatomy," "bladder injury," "bladder repair," "cystotomy," "routine cystoscopy," and "vesicovaginal fistula." This review uses gynecologic and trauma literature and discusses prevention, recognition, types of iatrogenic bladder injuries, their clinical significance, current guidelines on bladder injury repair, and the expected follow-up care, and concludes by identifying areas for further research.

An optimized RAD51 inhibitor that disrupts homologous recombination without requiring Michael acceptor reactivity.

Homologous recombination (HR) is an essential process in cells that provides repair of DNA double-strand breaks and lesions that block DNA replication. RAD51 is an evolutionarily conserved protein that is central to HR. Overexpression of RAD51 protein is common in cancer cells and represents a potential therapeutic target in oncology. We previously described a chemical inhibitor of RAD51, called RI-1 (referred to as compound 1 in this report). The chloromaleimide group of this compound is thought to act as a Michael acceptor and react with the thiol group on C319 of RAD51, using a conjugate addition-elimination mechanism. In order to reduce the likelihood of off-target effects and to improve compound stability in biological systems, we developed an analogue of compound 1 that lacks maleimide-based reactivity but retains RAD51 inhibitory activity. This compound, 1-(3,4-dichlorophenyl)-3-(4-methoxyphenyl)-4-morpholino-1H-pyrrole-2,5-dione, named RI-2 (referred to as compound 7a in this report), appears to bind reversibly to the same site on the RAD51 protein as does compound 1. Like compound 1, compound 7a specifically inhibits HR repair in human cells.