Community acquired COVID-19 related complications after coronary artery
bypass grafting.
Abstract
Many hospitals will continue to see a surge in COVID-19 cases and halt
of elective cases, while others pass the surge and begin to restart
elective surgeries. Regardless of the phase each hospital encounters,
the safety of both patients and staff must be taken into account.1,2
This case report describes a patient who underwent urgent coronary
artery bypass grafting (CABG) at the beginning of the COVID-19 surge.
The initial postoperative course was uneventful and the patient was
discharged on postoperative day 4. The patient presented nearly two
weeks later with a subsequent severe COVID-19 infection complicated by
STEMI and stroke. This case not only demonstrates the risks and
potential complications of caring for cardiac surgery patients during
the COVID-19 pandemic, it is the only known reported case of a patient
developing severe COVID-19 infection after a CABG resulting in STEMI and
stroke due to hypercoagulable state associated with COVID-19.