Interview with Thomas Maddox, M.D., MSc, FACC, the chairman of the American College of Cardiology (ACC) Science and Quality Committee, which recently created the ACC document on novel coronavirus (COVID-19) clinical guidance for the cardiovascular care team. He explains the document and what cardiologists and the cardiac care team needs to know about caring for COVID-19 patients. The document points out COVID-19 combined with the comorbidity of cardiovascular disease has the mortality of any comorbidity, as high as 10.5 percent.
He explains the need for more serious attention to protective equipment, cardiovascular complications seen in COVID-19 (SARS‐CoV‐2) patients, suggestions on how to mitigate exposure if an echo or cath is required, and other considerations for the CV care team. He said the document will be updated on a regular bases and the committee is drafting other sets of related COVID-19 guidelines for cardiology departments.
Updates regarding COVID-19 and cardiology will be posted on the ACC COVID-19 Hub page.
Maddox is also the executive director of the Healthcare Innovation Lab of BJC Healthcare and Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis. He is also an assistant professor of cardiology at Washington University.
Read more on ACC COVID-19 recommendations for the cardiovascular care team.
Additional COVID-19 Resources for Clinicians:
World Health Organization (WHO) COVID-19 situation reports
World Health Organization (WHO) coronavirus information page
U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) COVID-19 information page
Centers for Disease Control (CDC) COVID-19 information page
Related COVID-19 Content:
The Cardiac Implications of Novel Coronavirus
ESC Council on Hypertension Says ACE-I and ARBs Do Not Increase COVID-19 Mortality
CT Provides Best Diagnosis for Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19)
Radiology Lessons for Coronavirus From the SARS and MERS Epidemics
Deployment of Health IT in China’s Fight Against the COVID-19 Epidemic
Emerging Technologies Proving Value in Chinese Coronavirus Fight
Radiologists Describe Coronavirus CT Imaging Features
Coronavirus Update from the FDA
CT Imaging of the 2019 Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV) Pneumonia
CT Imaging Features of 2019 Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV)
Chest CT Findings of Patients Infected With Novel Coronavirus 2019-nCoV Pneumonia