Adult Congenital and Structural Interventions in Coronavirus Disease 2019 Era: Report from an Iranian Tertiary Cardiovascular Center

Iran is one of the countries hit hard and early by the corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak. Interventions for congenital and structural heart disease came to a halt in the initial part the year 2020, however as the pandemic seemed no closer to an end there was a mandate for elective catheterization procedures to be slowly and cautiously resumed. Aims and

In the present report we discuss the challenges we faced and the experiences earned as a cardiovascular tertiary center in the field of adult congenital and structural interventions in the COVID era.

Adult congenital and structural interventions were resumed in May 2020 with implementing strict screening protocols regulated by our institutional COVID committee. Patients were closely monitored for developing COVID-19 symptoms in hospital and two weeks following discharge.

In the regular review performed by the COVID committee there was no increase in new cases of the disease related to the interventional procedures and related admission.

As the fate of pandemic remains unforeseeable, structural and congenital interventions need to be resumed in a sustainable fashion and with an instituted system of patient protection. The workflow might slow down during disease peaks with a catch-up in more stable disease periods.