RESUMEN
The Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has thoroughly and deeply affected the provision of healthcare services worldwide. In order to limit the in-hospital infections and to redistribute the healthcare professionals, cardiac percutaneous intervention in Pediatric and Adult Congenital Heart Disease (ACHD) patients were limited to urgent or emergency ones. The aim of this article is to describe the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Pediatric and ACHD cath laboratory activity during the so-called 'hard lockdown' in Italy. Eleven out of 12 Italian institutions with a dedicated Invasive Cardiology Unit in Congenital Heart Disease actively participated in the survey. The interventional cardiology activity was reduced by more than 50% in 6 out of 11 centers. Adolescent and ACHD patients suffered the highest rate of reduction. There was an evident discrepancy in the management of the hard lockdown, irrespective of the number of COVID-19 positive cases registered, with a higher reduction in Southern Italy compared with the most affected regions (Lombardy, Piedmont, Veneto and Emilia Romagna). Although the pandemic was brilliantly addressed in most cases, we recognize the necessity for planning new, and hopefully homogeneous, strategies in order to be prepared for an upcoming new outbreak.
Asunto(s)
COVID-19 , Procedimientos Quirúrgicos Cardíacos , Servicios Médicos de Urgencia , Cardiopatías Congénitas , Control de Infecciones , Gestión de Riesgos/métodos , Adolescente , Adulto , COVID-19/diagnóstico , COVID-19/epidemiología , COVID-19/prevención & control , COVID-19/transmisión , Procedimientos Quirúrgicos Cardíacos/métodos , Procedimientos Quirúrgicos Cardíacos/estadística & datos numéricos , Defensa Civil/métodos , Defensa Civil/tendencias , Transmisión de Enfermedad Infecciosa/prevención & control , Servicios Médicos de Urgencia/métodos , Servicios Médicos de Urgencia/estadística & datos numéricos , Femenino , Cardiopatías Congénitas/epidemiología , Cardiopatías Congénitas/cirugía , Humanos , Control de Infecciones/métodos , Control de Infecciones/organización & administración , Italia/epidemiología , Masculino , Innovación Organizacional , SARS-CoV-2RESUMEN
: The worldwide response to the current COVID-19 pandemic has been focused on how to prevent the disease and to protect the high-risk patient from a potentially lethal infection. Several consensus and guidelines articles have been published dealing with the cardiac patient with systemic hypertension, heart transplant or heart failure. Very little is known about the patients, both in the pediatric as well as in the adult age, with congenital heart disease. The peculiar physiology of the heart with a native, repaired or palliated congenital heart defect deserves a specialized care. Hereby we describe the early recommendations issued by the Italian Society of Pediatric Cardiology and Congenital Heart Disease and how the network of the congenital cardiac institutions in Italy reacted to the threat of potential wide spread of the infection among this fragile kind of patient.