A group of cardiovascular societies, including the American College of Cardiology (ACC) and American Heart Association (AHA), has published a new guidance designed to help providers resume important procedures and diagnostic tests during the COVID-19 pandemic. The guidance was published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, Canadian Journal of Cardiology and The Annals of Thoracic Surgery.
“Unprecedented times call for unprecedented collaboration, and a collaborative approach will be essential to mitigate the ongoing morbidity and mortality associated with untreated cardiovascular disease,” ACC President Athena Poppas, MD, chief of cardiology and professor of medicine at the Alpert Medical School of Brown University, said in a prepared statement. “It is essential that we work together to ensure cardiovascular disease patients are safely cared for during this pandemic and that we don’t allow for a new crisis of undiagnosed, untreated or worsening cardiovascular disease to occur in the aftermath of this pandemic.”
“As many states have begun to re-open or introduce progressive re-openings since the national COVID-19 lockdown, this guidance provides a critical framework for prioritizing and resuming cardiovascular care as safely and as appropriately as possible,” AHA President Robert Harrington, MD, a professor of medicine at Stanford University, said in a separate statement. “We must continue to strike the delicate balance of ensuring optimal and timely cardiovascular care that can reduce morbidity and mortality, weighed against the risk of COVID-19 exposure. A tailored and collaborative approach that adapts based on the number of COVID cases and the mortality rate within each community, in tandem with local health and government leaders, is ideal. The safety of our patients and their families from both cardiovascular disease and COVID-19 is our priority.”
Poppas, Harrington and the document’s other authors detailed three things cardiovascular providers should keep in mind when resuming invasive procedures and diagnostic tests, as highlighted in the ACC statement:
- The ethics of care: Procedures “that will ensure the most lives or life years are saved” should be prioritized “over those that benefit fewer people to a lesser degree.”
- Necessary collaborations: The ongoing pandemic has challenged healthcare providers in numerous ways—and providing essential care to cardiovascular patients while still helping treat COVID-19 will require collaborations between public officials, physicians and other important stakeholders.
- Safety: Providers must do whatever is necessary to protect the safety of both patients and healthcare workers. It is important, for example, to secure personal protective equipment, develop effective social distancing strategies and implement virtual patient visits when possible.
In addition to the ACC and AHA, other societies signing off on the guidance included the American Society of Echocardiography, American Society of Nuclear Cardiology, Canadian Association of Interventional Cardiology, Canadian Cardiovascular Society, Canadian Heart Failure Society Heart Rhythm Society, Canadian Society of Cardiac Surgeons, Heart Valve Society, Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions, Society for Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance, Society of Cardiovascular Computed Tomography, Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging and Society of Thoracic Surgeons.
Michael has more than 16 years of experience as a professional writer and editor. He has written at length about cardiology, radiology, artificial intelligence and other key healthcare topics.