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How to keep the cath-lab of a COVID-free hub center during the pandemic in a hub and spoke cardiology network: a single center's experience.
Borghesi, Marco; Zilio, Filippo; Braito, Giuseppe; Dallago, Michele; Muraglia, Simone; Todaro, Daniel; Bonmassari, Roberto.
  • Borghesi M; Division of Interventional Cardiology, Department of Cardiology, Santa Chiara Hospital, Trento, Italy - marco.borghesi@apss.tn.it.
  • Zilio F; Division of Interventional Cardiology, Department of Cardiology, Santa Chiara Hospital, Trento, Italy.
  • Braito G; Division of Interventional Cardiology, Department of Cardiology, Santa Chiara Hospital, Trento, Italy.
  • Dallago M; Division of Interventional Cardiology, Department of Cardiology, Santa Chiara Hospital, Trento, Italy.
  • Muraglia S; Division of Interventional Cardiology, Department of Cardiology, Santa Chiara Hospital, Trento, Italy.
  • Todaro D; Division of Interventional Cardiology, Department of Cardiology, Santa Chiara Hospital, Trento, Italy.
  • Bonmassari R; Division of Interventional Cardiology, Department of Cardiology, Santa Chiara Hospital, Trento, Italy.
Minerva Cardiol Angiol ; 70(4): 468-475, 2022 Aug.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1975634
ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND:

Northern Italy has been one of the most affected area in the world by the novel severe acute respiratory syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The healthcare system has been overwhelmed by the huge number of patients in need of mechanical ventilation or intensive care, resulting in a delay of treatment of patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS), due to a crash in STEMI networks and closure of a certain number of hub centers, and to a delay in patients' seeking for medical evaluation for chest pain or angina-equivalent symptoms.

METHODS:

In the Trentino region, a mountainous area with about 500,000 inhabitants, very close to Lombardy that was the epicenter of the pandemic in Italy, to avoid these dramatic consequences, we developed a new protocol tailored to our specificity to keep our institution, and above all the cath-lab, clean from the SARS-CoV-2 infection, to ensure full operativity for cardiologic emergencies.

RESULTS:

Applying this protocol during the two months of the peak of the infection in Italy no one of the staff members of the cath-lab, the ICCU or the cardiology ward tested positive to nasal swab for SARS-CoV-2 and the same result was obtained for all the patients admitted to our units.

CONCLUSIONS:

Our real-world experience shows that during the COVID-19 pandemic, quick activation of an appropriate protocol defining specific pathways for patients with a medical urgency is effective in minimizing healthcare personnel exposure and to preserve full operativity of the hub centers. This issue will be of a crucial importance, now that we are facing the second wave of the pandemic.
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Full text: Available Collection: International databases Database: MEDLINE Main subject: Cardiology / ST Elevation Myocardial Infarction / COVID-19 Type of study: Diagnostic study / Experimental Studies / Observational study Limits: Humans Language: English Journal: Minerva Cardiol Angiol Year: 2022 Document Type: Article

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Full text: Available Collection: International databases Database: MEDLINE Main subject: Cardiology / ST Elevation Myocardial Infarction / COVID-19 Type of study: Diagnostic study / Experimental Studies / Observational study Limits: Humans Language: English Journal: Minerva Cardiol Angiol Year: 2022 Document Type: Article