Study links 'Covid effect' to fewer heart surgeries, more patient deaths

A new study has found that the effects of the ongoing coronavirus health crisis have resulted in a substantial decline in overall heart surgery volume and an unexplained increase in deaths after coronary artery bypass grafting.

In addition, the data showed that no what matter the procedure--isolated coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG), isolated aortic valve replacement (AVR), isolated mitral valve replacement (MVR), CABG+AVR, CABG+MVR, isolated MV repair, and CABG+MV repair--there was a significant decline in case volume, 54 per cent, as compared to 2019. In the past year, this crisis has altered or halted virtually every aspect of society, and the practice of cardiothoracic surgery clearly has not been immune.

The abrupt cessation of surgery in mid-March 2020 has proven to have had far-reaching implications, as the negative effects of cancelled and postponed procedures on patient health outcomes now are being realised.