Strategies for emergency cardiovascular surgery under the epidemic of COVID-19

Abstract

Severe acute respiratory infection caused by a novel coronavirus(SARS-CoV-2), WHO named COVID-19, is the major clinical concern globally. Both the world health organization and the National Health Commission have issued interim guidelines and management strategy for the diagnosis and treatment of COVID-19. These comprehensive guidelines establish the basic norms for the clinical practice. However, cardiovascular diseases have their special pathophysiological characteristics. The surgical treatment strategies for emergency and critical cardiovascular diseases requires specific recommendations or guidelines. From 16 January to 12 February 2020, the department of cardiovascular surgery in Wuhan Union Hospital had performed 15 emergency cardiovascular operations. The perioperative success rate is 100%. Based on our clinical practice, we summarized the relevant experience as a complement to the WHO and National Health Commission guidelines, hope to provide references for the cardiovascular surgeons. Key words: COVID-19; Cardiovascular surgery; Emergency operation; Therapeutic strategy