Open AccessEchocardiography during the COVID-19 pandemic, an impact of the vaccination program: a 2021 update of the expert opinion of the Working Group on Echocardiography of the Polish Cardiac Society
Author(s) -
Piotr Szymański,
Andrzej Gackowski,
Katarzyna Mizia−Stec,
Jarosław D. Kasprzak,
Magdalena Lipczyńska,
Piotr Lipiec
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
kardiologia polska
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.527
H-Index - 34
eISSN - 1897-4279
pISSN - 0022-9032
DOI - 10.33963/kp.15973
Subject(s) - medicine , covid-19 , expert opinion , pandemic , vaccination , cardiology , virology , intensive care medicine , outbreak , disease , infectious disease (medical specialty)
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic resulted in an urgent need to reorganize the work of echocardiography laboratories in order to ensure the safety of patients and the protection of physicians, technicians, and other staff members. In the previous Expert Opinion of the Working Group on Echocardiography of Polish Cardiac Society we provided recommendations for the echocardiographic services, in order to ensure maximum possible safety and efficiency of imagers facing epidemic threat. Now, with much better knowledge and larger experience in treating COVID-19 patients and with introduction of vaccination programs, we present updated recommendations for performing transthoracic and transesophageal examinations, including information on the potential impact of personnel and the patient vaccination program, and growing numbers of convalescents on performance of echocardiographic laboratories, with the goal of their ultimate reopening.