Pontone Gianluca, Bremner Luca, Del Torto Alberico, Albano Domenico, Baritussio Anna, Bauckneht Matteo, Cuocolo Alberto, Frantellizzi Viviana, Gatti Marco, Gimelli Alessia, Guglielmo Marco, Leccisotti Lucia, Marcassa Claudio, Russo Vincenzo, Sciagrà Roberto, Williams Michelle C, Better Nathan, Cerci Rodrigo, Choi Andrew D, Dorbala Sharmila, Hirschfeld Cole B, Karthikeyan Ganesan, Pascual Thomas N B, Shaw Leslee J, Villines Todd C, Vitola Joao, Cohen Yosef, Malkovskiy Eli, Randazzo Michael, Pynda Yaroslav, Dondi Maurizio, Einstein Andrew J, Paez Diana
Department of Perioperative Cardiology and Cardiovascular Imaging, Centro Cardiologico Monzino IRCCS, Via C. Parea 4, 20138 Milan, Italy.
Department of Biomedical, Surgical and Dental Sciences, University of Milan, Via della Commenda 10, 20122, Milan, Italy.
Eur Heart J Imaging Methods Pract. 2024 Jun 24;2(1):qyae054. doi: 10.1093/ehjimp/qyae054. eCollection 2024 Jan.
Recovery of cardiovascular diagnostic testing in Italy after the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has not been quantified. The study aims to describe cardiac diagnostic procedure volumes, centres practice and protocols, and staff members' well-being 1 year after COVID-19 outbreak in Italy.
A global survey was conducted by the International Atomic Energy Agency to evaluate changes in cardiac diagnostic procedure volumes in April 2021. Evaluated procedures were transoesophageal echocardiogram, coronary computed tomography angiography, coronary artery calcium scanning, nuclear medicine infection studies, invasive coronary angiography, rest and stress transthoracic echocardiogram, cardiac magnetic resonance, single-photon emission computed tomography and positron emission tomography, and stress electrocardiogram. Data were compared with April 2020 and March 2019. Forty-two Italian centres took part in the survey. In April 2020, there was a 72% decrease of median volumes of cardiac diagnostic procedures compared with March 2019. In April 2021, volumes of cardiac diagnostic procedures remained decreased by 3% when compared with March 2019. Stress electrocardiogram, coronary computed tomography angiography, and stress cardiac magnetic resonance volumes increased in April 2021 compared with baseline (29%, 6%, and 16%, respectively). The majority of centres had adopted physical distancing measures (93%), COVID-19 screening through questionnaires (76%), or temperature checks (93%). Twenty-five per cent of physicians at Italian responding sites reported excessive levels of psychological stress.
In April 2021, volumes of cardiac diagnostic procedures at Italian responding sites were still recovering. Centres had implemented several adaptations to ensure the provision of care to their patients. Even 1 year after the pandemic, a substantial minority of Italian healthcare providers were still experiencing excessive psychological stress.
2019年冠状病毒病（COVID-19）大流行后意大利心血管诊断检测的恢复情况尚未得到量化。本研究旨在描述意大利COVID-19疫情爆发1年后心脏诊断程序的数量、各中心的做法和协议以及工作人员的健康状况。
国际原子能机构进行了一项全球调查，以评估2021年4月心脏诊断程序数量的变化。评估的程序包括经食管超声心动图、冠状动脉计算机断层扫描血管造影、冠状动脉钙化扫描、核医学感染研究、有创冠状动脉造影、静息和负荷经胸超声心动图、心脏磁共振、单光子发射计算机断层扫描和正电子发射断层扫描以及负荷心电图。将数据与2020年4月和2019年3月进行比较。42个意大利中心参与了调查。2020年4月，心脏诊断程序的中位数数量与2019年3月相比减少了72%。2021年4月，与2019年3月相比，心脏诊断程序的数量仍减少了3%。与基线相比，2021年4月负荷心电图、冠状动脉计算机断层扫描血管造影和负荷心脏磁共振的数量增加（分别为29%、6%和16%）。大多数中心采取了物理距离措施（93%）、通过问卷进行COVID-19筛查（76%）或体温检测（93%）。意大利参与调查地点的25%的医生报告心理压力过大。
2021年4月，意大利参与调查地点的心脏诊断程序数量仍在恢复中。各中心进行了多项调整以确保为患者提供护理。即使在大流行1年后，仍有相当一部分意大利医疗服务提供者仍承受着过大的心理压力。
