The outbreak of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused a worldwide pandemic. Less than 6 weeks after the first confirmed cases in Korea, the patient number exceeded 5,000, which overcrowded limited hospital resources and forced confirmed patients to stay at home. To allocate medical resources efficiently, Korea implemented a novel institution for the purpose of treating patients with cohort isolation out of hospital, namely the Community Treatment Center (CTC). Herein, we report results of the initial management of patients at one of the largest CTC in Korea. A total of 309 patients were admitted to our CTC. During the first two weeks, 7 patients were transferred to the hospital because of symptom aggravation and 107 patients were discharged without any complication. Although it is a novel concept and may have some limitations, CTC may be a very cost-effective and resource-saving strategy in managing massive cases of COVID-19 or other emerging infectious diseases.

Surgical treatment of vestibular schwannoma is targeted at complete removal with preserved neurological function. Complete removal may cause significant deficits, whereas subtotal tumor removal is associated with a high recurrence rate. The present study assessed the risk of tumor recurrence and postoperative facial nerve function in relation to the extent of surgical resection by reviewing the clinical records and radiological findings of 116 patients with vestibular schwannoma treated between 1990 and 1999. The extent of resection was classified as follows: gross total resection (GTR), near total resection (NTR), and subtotal resection (STR). Facial nerve function was graded using the modified House-Brackmann grade, and patients grouped into good (grades 1-2) and intermediate or poor (grades 3-6). Of the 116 patients, 26 (22%) underwent GTR, 32 (28%) NTR, and 58 (50%) STR. The recurrence rates were 3.8% (1/26 cases), 9.4% (3/32), and 27.6% (16/58) for GTR, NTR, and STR, respectively. GTR and NTR showed no statistically significant difference in terms of recurrence rate (p ＝ 0.620). However, recurrence was significantly less after NTR than STR (p ＝ 0.043). Immediately postoperative facial nerve function was good in 15.4% of patients after GTR, 40.6% after NTR, and 46.6% after STR. The STR and NTR carried a lower risk of facial nerve palsy than GTR in the immediately postoperative stage (p ＝ 0.006 and 0.036, respectively). Nevertheless, no statistical significance was observed in extent of resection and postoperative facial nerve outcome between the groups at last follow up (p ＝ 0.227). GTR is the ideal surgical treatment for vestibular schwannoma, but NTR is a good option, with better facial nerve function preservation than GTR without significantly increasing the risk of recurrence.