Reorganizing as a Covid-Free Heart Center: Does It Really Matter For The Primary Percutaneous Coronary Intervention Endpoints During the Covid-19 Pandemic?

Abstract

Backrounds/Aims: With the emergence of the new and more transmissible COVID variants such as Omicron, the necessity of taking new measures began to be discussed. Methods: Data regarding the organizational arrangements as defining COVID-free heart centers during the first waves is scarce. We evaluated the 273 non-COVID acute coronary syndrome patients who were admitted to our COVID-free tertiary cardiovascular center during the lockdown period. None of these cases had hospital acquired SARS CoV-2 infection during the follow-up. Therefore, no COVID-related morbidity or mortality was observed in this vulnerable group. Results: However, when we analyzed the 88 primary percutaneous coronary intervention procedures of the non-COVID STEMI patients of the lockdown period and compared the 70 of them with the 50 STEMI patients of the previous year, the results were not that encouraging. Even our hospital was declared as a COVID-free cardiolovascular center, there was a significant delay in the symptom-to-door time (SDT) during the pandemic (4.8 vs. 2.5 hours, respectively; P