Catheterization laboratory activity before and during COVID-19 spread: A comparative analysis in Piedmont, Italy, by the Italian Society of Interventional Cardiology (GISE).

BACKGROUND: COronaVIrus Disease 19 (COVID-19) led to the reorganization of Cardiology Units in terms of working spaces and healthcare personnel. In this scenario, both outpatient visits and elective interventional cardiology procedures were suspended and/or postponed. We aimed to report the impact of COVID-19 on interventional coronary and structural procedures in Piedmont, Italy. Methods The number of coronary angiographies (CAG), percutaneous coronary interventions (PCI), primary PCI (pPCI), transcatheter aortic valve replacements (TAVR) and Mitraclip performed in Piedmont between March 1st and April 20th, 2020 (CoV-time) were collected from each catheterization laboratory and compared to the number of procedures performed the year before in the same months (NoCoV-time). RESULTS: Procedural data from 18 catheterization laboratories were collected. Both coronary (5498 versus 2888: difference: -47.5%; mean 305.4 VS 160.4; p = 0.002) and structural (84 versus 17: difference: -79.8%; mean 4.7 Vs 0.9; p  < 0.001) procedures decreased during cov-time compared to nocov-time. in particular, coronary angiographies (1782 versus 3460), pci (1074 1983), p (271 410), tavr (11 72) and mitraclip (6 12) showed a reduction of 48.5%, 45.7%, 33.7%, 84.7% 50.0%, respectively (all for comparison <0.05). conclusions: compared the same time-period in 2019, both structural interventional covid-19 epidemic suffered dramatic decrease piedmont, italy. organizational change structured clinical pathways should be created, together with awareness campaigns.< div>