Impact of the coronavirus disease-19 pandemic on electrophysiological procedures at a national referral center

Ángel Cueva-Parra, Department of Electrophysiology, Instituto Nacional de Cardiología Ignacio Chávez, Mexico City, Mexico
Guillermo Muñoz-Benavides, Department of Electrophysiology, Instituto Nacional de Cardiología Ignacio Chávez, Mexico City, Mexico
José A. Fernández-Domènech, Departamento de Electrofisiología, Instituto Nacional de Cardiología Ignacio Chávez, Ciudad de México, México
Jorge R. Gómez-Flores, Departamento de Electrofisiología, Instituto de Cardiología Dr. Ignacio Chávez, Ciudad de México, México
Moisés Levinstein, Departamento de Electrofisiología, Instituto Nacional de Cardiología Ignacio Chávez, Ciudad de México, México
José L. Morales-Velázquez, Departamento de Electrofisiología, Instituto de Cardiología Dr. Ignacio Chávez, Ciudad de México, México
Manlio F. Márquez, Departamento de Cardiología, Sociedad interamericana de Cardiología, Ciudad de México, México; Departamento de Cardiología, Instituto Nacional de Cardiología Ignacio Chávez, Ciudad de México, México; Departamento de Cardiología, Consejo Interamericano de Electrocardiográfica y Arritmias, Ciudad de México. México
Pedro Iturralde-Torres, Miembro Honorario Emérito y Expresidente de la Sociedad Mexicana de Cardiología; Expresidente de la Sociedad Mexicana de Electrofisiología y Estimulación Cardiaca; Especialista en Cardiología Clínica y Electrofisiología; Ciudad de México, México
Santiago Nava, Department of Electrophysiology, Instituto Nacional de Cardiología Ignacio Chávez, Mexico City, Mexico

Introduction: The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has generated serious repercussions on the health system, reducing the number of all cardiology procedures worldwide. Objectives: Describe the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the procedures performed by the electrophysiology department in a national referral center. Methods: We made a retrospective review of our data base and we compared procedures made in the past 3 years since 2017-2019 with the procedures made in the 2020. We divided the procedures into two large groups: Cardiac Implantable Electronic Devices (CIED) related procedures and electrophysiological procedures (EP) which included conventional and complex ablations. Results: There was a significant reduction in all the procedures, the average of procedures performed in the last 3 previous years was 467, while in 2020, we performed only 319 (p = 0.01); this represents a reduction of 33.4% in the total number of procedures. There was no statistical difference regarding the CIED related procedures, the average of procedures in the past 3 previous years was 174, and in 2020 we performed 190 procedures (p = 0.46). Regarding the EP, the average of the past 3 previous years was 293, while in 2020, we performed only 129 procedures (p < 0.01). The reduction in the EP was 55.97%. The most affected months were April, May, and June. Conclusions: The COVID-19 pandemic considerably affected the number of the procedures in our center, reducing it by 33.4%. The reduction of procedures fundamentally affected the ablations, with a reduction of 55.97%. The number of CIED related procedures was not affected.

Keywords: Coronavirus disease-19 pandemic. Electrophysiological procedures. Cardiac implantable electronic devices related procedures.