Triage Considerations for Patients Referred for Structural Heart Disease Intervention During the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID‐19) Pandemic: An ACC /SCAI Consensus Statement

• Published in: Catheterization and Cardiovascular Interventions 2020
• Main Authors: Shah, Pinak B, Frederick G.P. Welt, Mahmud, Ehtisham, Phillips, Alistair, Kleiman, Neal S, Young, Michael N, Sherwood, Matthew, Batchelor, Wayne, Wang, Dee Dee, Davidson, Laura, Wyman, Janet, Kadavath, Sabeeda, Szerlip, Molly, Hermiller, James, Fullerton, David, Saif Anwaruddin
• Format: Web Resource
• Language: English
• DOI: 10.1002/ccd.28910

The COVID‐19 pandemic has strained health care resources around the world causing many institutions to curtail or stop elective procedures. This has resulted in the inability to care for patients valvular and structural heart disease (SHD) in a timely fashion potentially placing these patients at increased risk for adverse cardiovascular complications including congestive heart failure and death. The effective triage of these patients has become challenging in the current environment as clinicians have had to weigh the risk of bringing susceptible patients into the hospital environment during the COVID‐19 pandemic versus the risk of delaying a needed procedure. In this document, we suggest guidelines as to how to triage patients in need of SHD interventions and provide a framework of how to decide when it may be appropriate to proceed with intervention despite the ongoing pandemic. In particular, we address the triage of patients in need of trans‐catheter aortic valve replacement and percutaneous mitral valve repair. We also address procedural issues and considerations for the function of structural heart disease teams during the COVID‐19 pandemic.