Abstract
IntroductionThe primary aim of this systematic review is to provide perioperative strategies to help restore or preserve cardiovascular services under threat from financial and personnel constraints imposed by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.MethodsThe Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System Online, Excerpta Medica dataBASE, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials/CCTR, and Google Scholar were systematically searched using the search terms “(cardiac OR cardiology OR cardiothoracic OR surgery) AND (COVID-19 or coronavirus OR SARS-CoV-2 OR 2019-nCoV OR 2019 novel coronavirus OR pandemic)”. Additionally, the webpages of relevant medical societies, including the World Federation Society of Anesthesiologists, the Cardiothoracic Surgery Network, and the Society of Thoracic Surgeons, were screened for relevant information.ResultsWhereas cardiac surgery and cardiology practices were reduced by 50-75% during the pandemic, mortality of patients with COVID-19 increased significantly. Healthcare workers are among those at high risk of infection with COVID-19.ConclusionHospitals must provide maximum protective equipment and training on how to use it to healthcare workers for their mutual protection. Triage management of patients — which accounts for patient’s clinical status and risk-factor profile relatable to which services are available during the COVID-19 pandemic — is recommended. A strict reorganization of the hospital resources including preoperative, intraoperative, and postoperative detailed protective measures is necessary to reduce probability of vector contamination, to protect patients and the cardiovascular teams, and to permit safe resumption of cardiological and cardiac surgical activity.
Highlights
The primary aim of this systematic review is to provide perioperative strategies to help restore or preserve cardiovascular services under threat from financial and personnel constraints imposed by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic
Triage management of patients — which accounts for patient’s clinical status and risk-factor profile relatable to which services are available during the COVID-19 pandemic — is recommended
In low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), where surgical care delivery is already constrained by reduced availability of workforce, infrastructural capacity, geographical distance, and financial barriers, the COVID-19 pandemic may have even larger consequences
Summary
The primary aim of this systematic review is to provide perioperative strategies to help restore or preserve cardiovascular services under threat from financial and personnel constraints imposed by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has made a global imprint that has left almost no one untouched. Among the wide variety of threats to health, cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death in the world and is responsible for nearly one-third of all global deaths. Since the year 2000, an increase in an individual’s lifespan has become evident, but one-third of CVD deaths have occurred in those aged between 30 and 70 years — the most economically productive section of a country’s community. In the African continent, CVD has become the leading cause of death for the first time in the history of the global disease estimates
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