The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on cardiac surgery and transplant services in Ireland's National Centre.
Ir J Med Sci
; 190(1): 13-17, 2021 Feb.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-630922
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
Irish health services have been repurposed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Critical care services have been re-focused on the management of COVID-19 patients. This presents a major challenge for specialities such as cardiothoracic surgery that are reliant on intensive care unit (ICU) resources.AIM:
The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on activity at the cardiothoracic surgical care at the National Cardiothoracic Surgery and Transplant Centre.METHODS:
A comparison was performed of cardiac surgery and transplant caseload for the first 4 months of 2019 and 2020 using data collected prospectively on a customised digital database.RESULTS:
Cardiac surgery activity fell over the study period but was most impacted in March and April 2020. Operative activity fell to 49% of the previous years' activity for March and April 2020. Surgical acuity changed with 61% of all cases performed as inpatient transfers after cardiology admission in contrast with a 40% rate in 2019. Valve surgery continued at 89% of the expected rate; coronary artery bypass surgery was performed at 61% of the expected rate and major aortic surgery at 22%. Adult congenital heart cases were not performed in March or April 2020. One heart and one lung transplant were performed in this period.CONCLUSIONS:
In March and April of 2020, the spread of COVID-19 and the resultant focus on its management resulted in a reduction in cardiothoracic surgery service delivery.Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Heart Transplantation
/
COVID-19
/
Cardiac Surgical Procedures
Type of study:
Experimental Studies
/
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
Limits:
Adult
/
Aged
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
/
Middle aged
/
Young adult
Country/Region as subject:
Europa
Language:
English
Journal:
Ir J Med Sci
Year:
2021
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
S11845-020-02292-6
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