Collateral damage of COVID-19 pandemic: Delayed medical care.
Saqib MasroorPublished in: Journal of cardiac surgery (2020)
During the COVID-19 pandemic, emergency room visits have drastically decreased for non-COVID conditions such as appendicitis, heart attack, and stroke. Patients may be avoiding seeking medical attention for fear of catching the deadly condition or as an unintended consequence of stay-at-home orders. This delay in seeking care can lead to increased morbidity and mortality, which has not been figured in the assessment of the extent of damage caused by this pandemic. This case illustrates an example of "collateral damage" caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. What would have been a standard ST-elevation myocardial infarction treated with timely and successful stenting of a dominant right coronary artery occlusion, became a much more dangerous postinfarction ventricular septal defect; all because of a 2-day delay in seeking medical attention by an unsuspecting patient.
Keyphrases
- st elevation myocardial infarction
- healthcare
- coronavirus disease
- coronary artery
- sars cov
- mental health
- oxidative stress
- percutaneous coronary intervention
- working memory
- heart failure
- emergency department
- public health
- palliative care
- left ventricular
- antiplatelet therapy
- case report
- atrial fibrillation
- quality improvement
- affordable care act
- acute coronary syndrome
- chronic pain
- clinical evaluation