• Edgar L Tay, Kentaro Hayashida, Mao Chen, Wei-Hsien Yin, Duk-Woo Park, Ashok Seth, Hsien-Li Kao, Mao-Shin Lin, Kay-Woon Ho, Wacin Buddhari, Mann Chandavimol, Fabio-Enriques Posas, Quang N Nguyen, William Kong, M A Rosli, Jimmy Hon, Doni Firman, and Michael Lee.
• Department of Cardiology and Cardiothoracic and Vascular Surgery, National University Heart Centre, Singapore, Singapore.
• J Card Surg. 2020 Sep 1; 35 (9): 2142-2146.

ObjectivesThe impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the treatment of patient with aortic valve stenosis is unknown and there is uncertainty on the optimal strategies in managing these patients.MethodsThis study is supported and endorsed by the Asia Pacific Society of Interventional Cardiology. Due to the inability to have face to face discussions during the pandemic, an online survey was performed by inviting key opinion leaders (cardiac surgeon/interventional cardiologist/echocardiologist) in the field of transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) in Asia to participate. The answers to a series of questions pertaining to the impact of COVID-19 on TAVI were collected and analyzed. These led subsequently to an expert consensus recommendation on the conduct of TAVI during the pandemic.ResultsThe COVID-19 pandemic had resulted in a 25% (10-80) reduction of case volume and 53% of operators required triaging to manage their patients with severe aortic stenosis. The two most important parameters used to triage were symptoms and valve area. Periprocedural changes included the introduction of teleconsultation, preprocedure COVID-19 testing, optimization of protests, and catheterization laboratory set up. In addition, length of stay was reduced from a mean of 4.4 to 4 days.ConclusionThe COVID-19 pandemic has impacted on the delivery of TAVI services to patients in Asia. This expert recommendation on best practices may be a useful guide to help TAVI teams during this period until a COVID-19 vaccine becomes widely available.© 2020 Wiley Periodicals LLC.

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