Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a profound effect on the practice of
clinical medicine. Tremendous resources have been poured into caring for
patients infected with the virus necessitating a reduction in elective
medical procedures. The extent to which physicians have modified their
behavior in treating non-COVID-19 patients remains unclear. To address
this question, we queried major cardiology vendors (Boston Scientific,
Abbott and Biosense Webster) in the Philadelphia region to quantify
arrhythmia ablation and cardiac device implantation volumes at 27
hospitals. We observed a significant, inverse correlation between
regional COVID-19 cases and cardiac electrophysiologic procedures since
the beginning of the US outbreak in late January. Furthermore, we
observed that atrial fibrillation ablation and ICD implantation rates
dropped more than VT ablation and device generator change rates did
consistent with a shift away from elective medical procedures. These
results can inform expected procedural volume load and planning once
routine clinical practice resumes.