COVID-19-associated delays in aortic-valve replacement tied to worse outcomes

Reuters Health - 06/10/2020 - Patients with symptomatic severe aortic stenosis whose aortic-valve replacement (AVR) is deferred because of the COVID-19 pandemic have worse outcomes than patients who have expedited AVR, researchers report. "Available resources need to be cautiously redistributed during the peak of the pandemic," Dr. Thomas Pilgrim of Bern University Hospital, in Switzerland, told Reuters Health by email. "Depending on the burden of SARS-CoV-2 in the population and the available healthcare resources, deferring AVR in patients with severe aortic stenosis may do more harm than good." In response to increased health care resource demands, many hospitals banned elective procedures at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Dr. Pilgrim and colleagues in the Aortic Stenosis Defer study prospectively evaluated outcomes among patients with symptomatic severe aortic stenosis who received deferred versus expedited AVR based on prespecified criteria durin...

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Posted on 6 October, 202022 October, 2020