Response of Cardiac Surgery Units to COVID-19

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has had an unprecedented global effect on health care.We quantified the experience and changes implemented in response to the COVID-19 pandemic across cardiac surgery centers participating in an international research consortium.A 40-question questionnaire was e-mailed to all centers participating in the international ROMA trial (Randomized Comparison of the Outcome of Single Versus Multiple Arterial Grafts) 1 on March 23, 2020.Participation was voluntary and anonymized.The questionnaire assessed each center's pandemic response according to regional disease prevalence; local resources and logistics; and institutional, regional, or national policies.The numbers of infections by country were obtained from the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center 2 and adjusted by population size per million inhabitants.We used incidence data contemporary to the date of surveys compilation.Correlations between the adjusted number of COVID-19 infections and survey variables were calculated using the Pearson correlation coefficient.The study did not require institutional review board approval.Of the 61 centers approached, 60 (98.3%) completed the survey: 7 from Asia, 2 from Australia, 31 from Europe, 16 from North America, and 4 from South America.Of the survey responses, 57 out of 60 (95%) came from cardiac surgeons holding an administrative leadership position at their center.The median reduction in cardiac surgery case volume was 50% to 75%, correlating with the number of local of COVID-19 cases (correlation coefficient r=0.36;P50% reduction in the number of dedicated cardiac operating rooms and intensive care unit beds.Most centers restricted cardiac surgery activity to urgent and emergent cases; 5% had canceled all cases including emergencies.Almost a third of the centers relocated personnel to other departments; the majority was relocated to the intensive care unit, highly correlating (r=0.86,P1 month (Table ).