Impact of COVID-19 on Coronary Artery Surgery: Hard lessons learnedAuthor: Luis Alberto O. Dallan1; Luiz Augusto F. Lisboa1; Luis Roberto P. Dallan1; Fabio B. Jatene1.1 Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Heart Institute from University of São Paulo Medical School (InCor), São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.Corresponding author:  Luis Alberto O. Dallan, Dr. Enéas de Carvalho Aguiar, 44, Postal Code:05403-900. Pinheiros, São Paulo, SP – Brazil. Phone: +55 (11) 2661-5014. E-mail: dcidallan@incor.usp.br.Since March 11th, 2020 when coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was declared a pandemia, hospitals had to be adapted quickly to increase the assistance capacity for a large part of the population that needed hospitalization for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection (1,2). Major disruptions on routine hospital services have occurred, with health professionals needed to assume functions beyond their usual routines and beds were adapted for intensive care due to the increased demand in the treatment of severe acute respiratory failure. Cardiovascular surgery was particularly affected by the coronavirus outbreak, since most of the elective surgeries were canceled and ICU beds, normally dedicated to the postoperative period of cardiac surgery, were transferred to patients with COVID-19 (3-5).In this context, Kalil and Col.(6) examine the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic in the number of procedures and death rate of CABG performed in 2020 in Brazil. They analyzed patients undergoing CABG in the public health system between 2008 and 2020. The data were collected from DATASUS, the data processing system of the Brazilian Ministry of Health, which collects information from every patient who needs in-hospital care and was admitted to a public hospital. Patients operated on the private system were not captured in the database and were excluded from the analysis. The results showed that in 2020, during the pandemic period, there was an average reduction of 25% in the number of CABG performed in Brazil, with the majority of procedures (75%) being performed in the south and southeast regions of the country. Regarding postoperative mortality, they observed an opposite effect with an increase in mortality from 5.6% to 6.3% during this pandemic period (6).This study has some limitations due to results extracted from an administrative database, good for epidemiological analysis such as gender, age, number and type of surgeries performed. Considering the reduction in surgical volume during the pandemic period, surgical status was analyzed altogether (whether elective, or urgent or emergency CABG), expressing a general view of the situation.Brazil was the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak in Latin America and other publications from Brazil showed different and more detailed results in relation to the pandemic period (7,8). One by Omar et al. (7) who used data from the São Paulo Registry of Cardiovascular Surgery (REPLICCAR), a multicenter registry, showed a 60% reduction in surgical CABG volume during COVID-19 pandemic. Regarding mortality, CABG surgeries had a 2.8-fold increased mortality risk (CI95%,1-7.6, P=0.041), patients who evolved with COVID-19 had a 11-fold increased mortality risk (CI95%, 2.2-54.9, P<0.003), rates of morbidities and readmission to the intensive care unit. (7), compared to 2019.In our own series at the Heart Institute University of Sao Paulo Medical School - Brazil, we observed a 65.8% reduction in cardiac surgery volume in 2020, during the pandemic period, and 2/3 of these were urgent or emergency procedures. Regarding the CABG in-hospital mortality, there was increased from 1.2% (2019) to 3.0% (2020) among elective procedures and from 4.5% (2019) para 18.2% (2020) among urgent or emergency procedures. Patients who had postoperative COVID-19, the in-hospital mortality rate was significantly higher (38.5%).Other publications reported a reduction in surgical volume of more than 70% during the peak disruption due to COVID-19 (9,10). Salenger et al. (11) reported that the volume of cardiac surgery fell to 54% of baseline after the restrictions were implemented and they also estimated a necessity of 2.5 times increase in numbers of procedures in post-COVID-19 era to restore balance to elective surgeries waiting lists. In the COVIDSurg collaborative, in a multi centric cohort of surgeries performed in 24 countries (235 hospitals), found that 75% of the procedures from 1 January and 31 March 2020, were non-elective and the mortality was 24%. Their cohort included 50 patients who underwent cardiac surgery and 30-day mortality was 34%, among the patients who had perioperative SARS-CoV-2 infection (12). Clinical studies have shown that in addition to severe acute respiratory distress syndrome, the coronavirus-2 infection also affects micro-circulation, has prothrombotic state and can cause myocardial injury, even in patients without coronary artery disease (13-14). This may be one of the reasons for the high mortality among patients who undergo surgery and present COVID-19 in the perioperative period, particularly in CABG surgery, where there is also a higher incidence of elderly, hypertensive and diabetic patients.While the COVID-19 pandemic continues to increase globally, measures to control SARS-CoV-2 infection and patient safety need to be established to maintain cardiovascular surgery, even if in small numbers. The consequences of delayed recognition of a patient with COVID-19 are significant. Protocols for triage, early diagnosis, isolation in specific areas and treatment of patients with COVID-19 with cardiovascular complications should be developed to minimize the risk of in-hospital transmission and greater safety for hospitalized patients without COVID-19 and healthcare professionals (15,16).A large number of operations were canceled or postponed due to interruptions caused by COVID-19. Coincidentally, our institution have reported an increased number of mechanical complications, that maybe related to decreased number of patients seeking for medical assistance (17).Studies conducted in the first months of the pandemic showed that if countries increased their normal surgical volume by 20%, it would take an average of 45 weeks to balance the backlog of operations resulting from the interruption of COVID-19 (18). Patients awaiting elective cardiac surgery need to be proactively managed, reprioritizing those with high-risk anatomy or whose clinical status is deteriorating. In this regard, governments must mitigate this heavy burden on patients by developing recovery plans and implementing strategies to safely restore surgical activity as soon as possible.

The coronavirus 2019 disease (COVID-19) affected 125 million people worldwide and caused 2.7 million deaths. Some comorbidities are associated with worse prognosis and left ventricular assist device (LVAD) recipients are probably part of this high-risk population. We report a 31-year-old male patient who developed COVID-19 during LVAD implantation. His postoperative period was complicated by severe pneumonia and mechanical ventilation leading to right ventricular failure (RVF) and inotrope necessity. He experienced multiple complications, but eventually recovered. We present a systematic review of LVAD recipients and COVID-19. Among 14 patients, the mean age was 62.7 years, 78.5% were male. Five patients (35.7%) required mechanical ventilation and 3 patients (21.4%) died. Two patients (14.2%) had thromboembolic events. This case and systematic review suggest LVAD recipients are at particular risk of unfavorable outcomes and they may be more susceptible to RVF in the setting of COVID-19, particularly during perioperative period.

In December 2019, the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) emerged in China and spread rapidly around the world, resulting in a pandemic declared by the World Health Organization in March 2020. The disease has affected more than 11 million people in Brazil, with more than 265.000 deaths to date, as we are now facing a second wave of infections. Regarding medical assistance and training, it turned out to be a great challenge, since - among other things - many residents were relocated to respiratory units to treat patients with COVID-19. Even though the residency programs situation has become chaotic all around the world and the activities in almost all specialties nearly stopped (especially in surgical specialties), the need to reinvent the way of teaching was the best concern. Worldwide the “webinars fever” was an impulse to try new strategies to fulfill the gaps of knowledge of these future specialists. It is crucial to call to the responsibility put on medical training institutions to prepare these new professionals according the principles of evidence-based medicine, surgical proficiency and patient safety.

Objectives: The goal of this study was to describe and evaluate our simulation training program on biological models for the cardiovascular surgery residency program at our institution. Material and Methods: Since 2016, with the purpose to develop better practical performance and evaluate the improvement of resident’s surgical skills, it was implemented a simulation training program, composed of some elemental procedures in cardiovascular surgery. It was established one wet lab session weekly lasting 2 hours, coached by 2 expert cardiovascular surgeons. Bovine and porcine hearts were used as biological models. At the end of the hands on program, an objective assessment consisting of 2 practical modules was applied and performance was rated by way of a 5-point scale. In addition, to provide a subjective assessment, each resident filled out a questionnaire consisting of 3 items reviewing the overall quality of the workshops on a 10-point scale. Results: The objective evaluation applied at the end of the training program consisted by valve replacement and coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) modules. The mean performance rating scores for valve replacement module ranged from 4.2 to 4.79, and to CABG, from 4.33 to 4.87. Regarding subjective assessment, all items evaluated, such as expert’s didactics, simulation performance and biological simulator fidelity, received high grades (above 9 on a 10-point scale). Conclusions: Simulator training on biological models for cardiac surgery medical residents is a simple and effective learning method of surgical skills.

We present an unusual case of a 67-year-old woman with an incidental finding of a cardiac mass on a chest-computed tomography. Coronary angiotomography confirmed the diagnosis of a right coronary artery aneurysm, with 5.7x5.7 cm. Patient underwent aneurysm resection and coronary artery bypass graft surgery, with subsequent histologic study suggestive of arteritis sequela. Patients with giant coronary artery aneurysms are at high risk of complications and must benefit from aneurysm exclusion. This is a rare condition that can also be part of a systemic inflammatory disease.