key: cord-0699055-twhvwgr2
authors: Mahmud, Ehtisham
title: The Evolving Pandemic of COVID‐19 and Interventional Cardiology
date: 2020-04-12
journal: Catheter Cardiovasc Interv
DOI: 10.1002/ccd.28894
sha: 5539cba26bc8fe0a4355a26c0bffc9bb9d857bb4
doc_id: 699055
cord_uid: twhvwgr2

nan

quiet has taken over the streets, punctuated only by the rare child riding a bike or a couple walking their dog.

I want to express solidarity with our colleagues who are on the front lines, addressing the response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Physicians, nurses and allied health care professionals in the emergency departments, intensive care units and inpatient wards are dealing directly with the sickest patients and are, in turn, greatly exposed. We in the interventional and invasive cardiology world are immensely grateful for their efforts and are here to offer support and help.

This has been extraordinarily stressful for us as physicians, our families, and for the patients that we have taken an oath to take care of and treat. There are many unknowns, but the universal learning based on the China, Italy, Europe and now California experience is that personal hygiene, social distancing, appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE) (https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/ hcp/guidance-risk-assesment-hcp.html), and isolating the highest risk group (age > 65, immunocompromised and/or those with medical comorbidities) have the greatest potential to mitigate the risk of COVID-19 spread and the associated morbidity/mortality. At times like this, we are forced to ask larger questions than those that pertain to just ourselves and determine the best way to move forward. There is a paucity of adequate data to guide our next steps, especially as they relate to the care of cardiovascular patients and those who require management in the catheterization laboratory (Cath Lab). We can leverage the lessons from China and determine how we might want to apply them to our health care systems.

The decision-making process is multifactorial for the treatment of This is an unprecedented medical challenge for all of us, and there are many questions for which we do not have immediate answers but have the tools and reach within SCAI to find them. Additionally, we cannot be effective physicians and interventionalists unless we take care of ourselves, our families, children, and senior colleagues. Collectively, we are all facing the anxiety of the unknown and will best be able to address it by remaining calm, organized and systematic in our approaches. We have to work together as an interventional cardiology community by supporting each other, remaining adaptable, and providing the best possible care for our patients.

Clinical features of patients infected with 2019 novel coronavirus in Wuhan, China

How to balance acute myocardial infarction and COVID-19: the protocols from Sichuan Provincial People's Hospital

Catheterization laboratory considerations during the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic: from ACC's Interventional Council and SCAI