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Case Reports
. 2020 Jun;35(6):1345-1347.
doi: 10.1111/jocs.14638. Epub 2020 May 17.

Collateral damage of COVID-19 pandemic: Delayed medical care

Saqib Masroor  1
Affiliations
Case Reports

Collateral damage of COVID-19 pandemic: Delayed medical care

Saqib Masroor. J Card Surg. 2020 Jun.

Abstract

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.

Keywords: COVID-19; coronary artery disease; postinfarction ventricular septal defect.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Transthoracic echocardiography revealing a large ventricular septal defect (white arrow) extending from mid septum to the apex
Figure 2
Figure 2
Intraoperative post‐repair transesophageal echocardiography demonstrating a competent repair of the ventricular septal defect
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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