Abstract
Background: Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has overwhelmed healthcare
systems worldwide often at the cost of patients with serious
non-COVID-19 conditions. Outcomes and risks of contracting COVID-19 in
patients hospitalized during the pandemic are unknown. Objective: To
report our experience in safely performing electrophysiology procedures
during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: We examined non-COVID-19 patients
who underwent electrophysiology procedures during the peak of the
pandemic between March 16, 2020 and May 11, 2020 at seven Northwell
Health hospitals. We developed a priority algorithm to stratify
inpatients and outpatients requiring electrophysiology procedures and
instituted a protocol to minimize hospital length of stay (LOS). All
patients underwent post discharge 30-day tele-health follow-up and chart
review up to 150 days. Results: A total of 217 patients underwent
electrophysiology procedures, of which 86 (39%) patients were
outpatients. A total of 108 (49.8%) patients had a LOS less than 24
hours, including 74 device implantations and generator changes, 24
cardioversions, five ablations, and one electrophysiology study. There
were eleven (5.1%) procedure or arrhythmia related re-admissions and
two (0.9%) minor procedural complications. Overall average hospital LOS
was 83.4±165.1 hours and a median of 24.0 hours. For outpatient
procedures, average hospital LOS was 9.4±13.4 hours and a median of 4.3
hours. Overall follow-up time was 83.9 ±42 days and a median of 84 days.
During follow-up, two (0.9%) patients tested positive for COVID-19 and
recovered uneventfully. No deaths occurred. Conclusion: During the peak
of the COVID-19 pandemic, patients safely underwent essential
electrophysiological procedures without increased incidence of acquiring
COVID-19.