Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic continues to present a public health challenge and has had a significant impact on the presentation, time-dependent management, and clinical outcomes of ST elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI). Patients with COVID-19 and pre-disposing cardiovascular risk factors like hypertension, hyperlipidemia, and diabetes mellitus are at a higher risk of developing STEMI, and global trends have highlighted delayed management of STEMI, which may contribute to worse clinical outcomes. Prolonged time to intervention has also resulted in an increased rate of no reflow, which is an independent risk factor for worse outcomes in these patients. Timely primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) remains standard of care for STEMI and can be attained within the recommended 90 minutes timeline from hospital presentation. A coordinated, safe, standardized, algorithmic approach among emergency medical services, emergency departments, and cardiac catheterization laboratory is needed to ensure optimal patient outcome during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. The focus of this article is to highlight the challenges of PCI for ST elevation myocardial infarction in the COVID-19 era via presentation of a case report.
Footnotes
Disclosures: The authors have reported no conflicts of interest or financial support related to this work. No part of this work has been previously published or presented at a scientific meeting.
Author Contributions: Both authors contributed to the concept/design, data collection and analysis, writing of the manuscript, and provided subjects. Both authors had full access to the data included in this report.
- Received July 12, 2021.
- Revision received September 28, 2021.
- Accepted November 10, 2021.
