Cardiology Commons^™

The Covid-19 Pandemic Surge And Impact On Rheumatic Valvular Heart Disease Patient Care, Prashanth Kulkarni, Manjappa Mahadevappa

Journal of the Saudi Heart Association

The COVID-19 crisis has surged worldwide putting immense stress on the health care services, leading to institutions deferring elective procedures and struggling to triage the emergency care of the cardiac patient. This has affected the management of the rheumatic valvular heart disease patient especially, in developing countries, potentially placing these patients at enormous risk for complications like congestive cardiac failure, stroke and death. In this article, we explore the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on rheumatic valvular heart disease patient care. We try to provide a framework that addresses the procedural considerations of interventions like percutaneous transluminal mitral commissurotomy (PTMC), …