Unexpected peak of mortality: The COVID-19 burden on Bergamo transcatheter aortic valve implantation register

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak has overwhelmed Northern Italy, just like rest of the world. The province of Bergamo has been one of the hardest-hit areas in Northern Italy since the beginning of COVID-19 epidemic (1). The ‘’ASST Papa Giovanni XXIII” public hospital is a tertiary reference center for cardiovascular diseases throughout the region of Northern Italy. It is highly specialized for the treatment of valve diseases. In the most critical phases of the epidemic, outpatient visits and non-urgent health services were suspended; however, the cardiovascular emergency network was kept active (2). Patients undergoing transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) are notoriously frail and exposed to the risk of COVID-19 infection. These patients are mostly affected by the absence of cardiac outpatient follow-up. Methods: We wanted to evaluate the outcomes of our patients who underwent TAVI from 2010 to the end of April 2020 in the Bergamo TAVI registry that is characterized by an annual mortality rate of around 10% with an overall five-year survival of over 50%. Table 1 shows the general characteristics of this population.