Should We Postpone Elective Cardiovascular Procedures and Percutaneous Coronary Interventions During the COVID-19 Pandemic?

Abstract

Background: Prioritization among patients with coronary artery disease represents a difficult issue during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. We present our clinical practices and patients’ outcomes after elective, emergent, and urgent cardiovascular surgery and percutaneous coronary interventions (PCI). We also investigated the rate of nosocomial infection of SARS-CoV-2 in health workers (HWs), including surgeons after cardiovascular procedures and percutaneous interventions (PCI). Material and methods: We performed 186 cardiovascular operations and PCI between March 15 and October 15. According to the level of priority (LoP), we performed urgent and emergent coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) and cardiac valve repair or replacement surgery in 44 patients. In one patient with acute chordae rupture with pulmonary edema, we performed mitral valve replacement. We performed the aortic arch repair in two patients with type-I aortic dissection in urgent situations. Therefore, in 47 patients we performed cardiac operations in urgent or emergent situations. Elective CABG (N = 28) and elective cardiac valve (N = 10) surgeries were performed (total: 38). While rescue PCI was urgently performed in 47 patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI), it was performed in elective or emergent situations in 40 patients with myocardial ischemia. Endovascular treatment was performed in four patients with deep venous thrombosis (DVT) and in four patients with chronic arterial occlusion, respectively. Surgical vascular repair and embolectomy were performed in patients with peripheral artery injury (N = 6) and acute arterial embolic events (N = 4), respectively. We performed thoracic computed tomography followed by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test in patients with irregular diffuse reticular opacities with or without consolidation on chest X-ray. Blood coagulation disorders including d-dimer, thromboplastin time (TT), and partial thromboplastin time (aPTT) were measured prior to procedures. Results: No mortality and morbidity was seen after percutaneous and surgical arterial or venous procedures. The total mortality rate was 4.1% (8 of 186 CAD patients or valve surgery) after urgent and emergent CABG (N = 4), an urgent valve replacement (N = 1), and PCI (N = 3). Low cardiac output syndrome (LOS) and major adverse cardiac cerebrovascular event (MACCE) were the mortality factors after cardiac surgery. The reasons for death after PCI were sudden cardiac arrest related to the dissection of the left main coronary artery during procedure and pneumonia due to COVID-19 (N = 2). Ground-glass opacities in combination with pulmonary consolidations were detected in seven patients. Interlobular septal and pleural thickening with patchy bronchiectasis in the bilateral lower lobe involvement was found after thoracic computed tomography in these patients. We confirmed in-hospital COVID-19 using a PCR test in two patients with STEMI prior to PCI. PT and aPTT increased, but fibrin degradation products did not in those two patients. We confirmed COVID-19 via phone call in six CABG patients and one PCI patient after discharge from the hospital. None of the patients diagnosed with COVID-19 died after being discharged from the hospital. Conclusion: Cardiovascular surgery and PCI can safely be performed with acceptable complications and mortality rates in elective situations, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Preoperative control of OR traffic, careful evaluation of the patient's history, consultation, and precautions taken by healthcare professionals are important, during and after procedures. Also important is wearing a mask and face shield and careful disinfection of equipment and space.

Adult Cardiovascular Surgery During COVID-19 Pandemic: A Retrospective Single Center Experience

“…Similar approaches to prioritize patients undergoing cardiac surgery and their preoperative screening for COVID-19 have also been recommended, Keskin et al, developed a different screening system to decide when to postpone or proceed with elective cardiac or vascular interventions based on a checklist containing relevant symptoms and signs of the disease, history of traveling or patient contact to determine the risk of COVID-19 transmission. [11][12][13] Our study showed that elective cardiovascular surgery procedures could be performed with acceptable mortality rates. Although our mortality rate was 9% during the study period, this result must be interpreted with caution because none of those patients had an elective procedure, in addition, their euroscores were relatively high, two patients who underwent urgent CABG had poor left ventricular function and died with low cardiac output syndrome, the patient who underwent open repair of ruptured AAA died due to acute renal failure, the patient with TVR died also due to renal failure and severe thrombocytopenia which leads to cerebral and massive gastrointestinal system hemorrhage, the remaining two patients died intraoperatively, one had fragile aorta which ruptured after the cross-clamp was removed, the other one was the patient with post-MI VSD, the last two patients who also underwent urgent CABG procedure, died due to postoperative COVID-19 infection.…”

“…Lower mortality rates were reported in previous studies, however, similar to our results all the reported cases were either urgent or emergent procedures. 13,14 During the study period, 4 patients developed COVID-19, one required elective CABG and was sent to the isolation ward, after the treatment he was operated on with an uneventful postoperative course, the other patient required intravenous antibiotherapy due to wound infection after being discharged. As previously mentioned, at the initial phase of the pandemic only two patients who underwent urgent CABG procedures tested positive for COVID-19 in the early postoperative period, one of them died on the 4 th postoperative day, and the other one was operated on the next day died after 3 weeks of treatment.…”

Fault Lines in India’s COVID-19 Management: Lessons Learned and Future Recommendations

“…Ref: [189][190][191][192] Social media Engage social media platforms to spread awareness and disease prevention Ref: [193,194] Risk Management and Healthcare Policy 2021:14 Oncology care, 148,149 planned surgeries 150,151 cardiovascular intervention 152,153 kidney failure and dialysis, 154,155 to name a few, that were all severely affected, leading to an increase in the death count. As a country, India needs to chalk out plans to ensure that parallel healthcare services continue in pandemic times so that non-COVID patients are not left aside.…”

Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Use and Outcomes of Cardiac Procedures in COPD Patients

“…Prioritization among patients with heart diseases requiring intervention has represented a difficult issue during the COVID-19 pandemic. Guidelines initially suggested postponing elective cardiovascular surgery [6]. However, cases undergoing emergency interventions also fell during the different waves of the COVID-19 pandemic [7], which might reflect the tendency that patients were less likely to visit hospitals to avoid exposure to COVID-19 infection, as suggested by previous studies [8][9][10].…”