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https://doi.org/10.47803/rjc.2020.30.3.423

Lucian Predescu1, Marin Postu1

1 „Prof. Dr. C.C. Iliescu” Emergency Institute for Cardiovascular Diseases, Bucharest, Romania

Abstract: This article provides data of the workload of the interventional cardiology centers from Romania during 2019. Members from all interventional cardiology centers from Romania were requested to fill a standard form about the total number of various procedures performed during 2019. The report highlights the total number of coronary interventions, peripheral interventions, and interventions for structural heart diseases, that were performed in 2019 in Romania. A comparison of the workload of the interventional cardiology centers from Romania between 2014 to 2019 was done. Keywords: interventional cardiology, percutaneous coronary interventions, stents.

Rezumat: Acest articol oferă date despre volumul de lucru al centrelor de cardiologie intervenţională din România în cursul anului 2019. Membrii din toate centrele de cardiologie intervenţională din România au fost rugaţi să completeze un formular standard despre numărul total de proceduri intervenţioale efectuate în cursul anului 2019. Raportul evidenţiază numărul total de intervenţii coronariene, intervenţii periferice şi intervenţii pentru boli structurale cardiace, care au fost efectuate în 2019 în România. S-a făcut o comparaţie între volumul de lucru al centrelor de cardiologie intervenţională din România între anii 2014 şi 2019. Cuvinte cheie: cardiologie intervenţională, intervenţii coronariene percutane, stenturi.

This article provides data of the workload of the interventional cardiology centers from Romania during 2019 and it highlights the trends in coronary or peripheral interventions between 2014 and 20191-5. Members from all interventional cardiology centers from Romania were requested to fill a standard form about the total number of various procedures performed during 2019. Data was collected from 34 of 36 interventional cardiology centers from Romania at the initiative of the Interventional Cardiology Working Group of Romanian Society of Cardiology.
Table 1 summarizes the data from 2019 provided by 34 public and private interventional cardiology centers from Romania. Currently, there are 36 interventional cardiology centers in Romania, of which 12 are private centers and 24 public centers. In 2019, in Romania were 58 interventional cardiologists in training.
The annual number of PCIs in every interventional cardiology center from Romania is represented in Figure 1. A direct comparison of data from 2014 to 2018 was done, that highlights the continuous increase of workload of the interventional cardiology centers from Romania (Figure 2). However, we can see that the sharp increase in the total number of PCIs between 2014-2016 flattened between 2017-2019. In 2019, in Romania, 21783 PCIs were performed.
In 2019 the downward trend of the total number of primary PCIs performed in STEMI patients continues (Figure 3). This can reveal problems in funding the program or how these cases are reported.
From 2014 to 2019 the total number of implanted stents and the percentage of drug eluting stents increased yearly (Figure 4). In 2019 were implanted 30207 drug eluting stents.

Table 1. Reported data from all Interventional Cardiology Centers from Romania in 2019

Figure 1. Total number of percutaneous coronary interventions in 2019 in interventional centers from Romania.

Figure 2. Total number of percutaneous coronary interventions from 2014 to 2019 in Romania.

Figure 3. Total number of primary percutaneous coronary interventions in STEMI patients from 2015 to 2019 in interventional centers from Romania (STEMI – ST segment elevation myocardial infarction).

Figure 4. Total number of stents implanted from 2014 to 2019 in Romania (DES – drug eluting stent).

Figure 5. Total number of peripheral angioplasties from 2014 to 2019 in Romania (only in interventional cardiology centers).

Figure 6. Total number of TAVI, EVAR/TEVAR and SHD interventions performed from 2017 to 2019 in Romania (TAVI – transcatheter aortic valve implan-tation, EVAR – Endovascular Aneurysm Repair, TEVAR – Thoracic endovascular aortic repair, SHD – structural heart diseases).

Conflict of interest: none declared.
Acknowledgement: We want to thank for their important contribution to data collection to: Dr. Adrian Bucsa and Prof. Dr. Vlad Iliescu, „Prof. Dr. CC Iliescu” Emergency Institute for Cardiovascular Diseases, Bucharest; Dr. Cristian Udroiu and Prof. Dr. Dragos Vinereanu, Emergency University Hospital, Bucharest; Dr. Lucian Calmac, Emergency Clinic Hospital, Bucha-rest; Dr. Emanuel Radu, Emergency Clinical Hospital „Prof. Dr. Agrippa Ionescu „, Bucharest; Dr. Sebastian Botezatu and Dr. Ruxandra Tudoran, Central Military Emergency University Hospital „Dr. Carol Davila”, Bu-charest; Dr. Valentin Chioncel, „Bagdasar-Arseni” Clinical Emergency Hospital, Bucharest; Dr. Mihai Melnic, Elias Emergency University Hospital, Bucharest; Dr. Octavian Zara, „Sf. Ioan” Clinical Emergency Hospital, Bucharest; Dr. Cristina Spinu, Sanador Clinical Hospital, Bucharest; Dr. Oren Iancovici, ARES Centers of Excellence in Cardiology and Radiology, Bucharest and Ares-Monza, Constanta and Cluj Napoca; Prof. Dr. Gheorghe Dan and Dr. Emilian Mihai, Colentina Clinical Hospital, Bucharest; Dr. Florina Pinte, Medlife, Bucharest; Dr. Lucian Zarma, „Victor Babes” Private Medical Clinic, Bucharest; Dr. Stefan Mot, Heart Insti-tute „Niculae Stancioiu”, Cluj-Napoca; Prof. Dr. Dan Olinic, County Emergency Hospital, Cluj-Napoca; Dr. Bogdan Dutu, Clinical Recovery Hospital, Cluj-Napoca; Dr. Alexandru Burlacu, Institute of Cardiovascu-lar Diseases „Prof. Dr. George IM Georgescu”, Dr. Igor Nedelciuc, Arcadia, Iasi; Prof. Dr. Imre Benedek and Prof. Dr. Teodora Benedek, County Emergency Hospital and CardioMed, Targu Mures, Dr. Ayman Elkahlout and Dr. Viorel Nicolae, Emergency Institute For Cardiovascular Diseases, Targu Mures; Conf. Dr. Ioan Tilea, Nova-Vita, Targu Mures; Conf. Dr. Cris-tian Mornos and Dr. Milovan Slovenski, Institute Of Cardiovascular Disease, Timisoara; Dr. Mihai Ursu, Clinicco, Brasov; Dr. Florin Ortan and Dr. Cristina Popica, County Emergency Hospital, Brasov; Dr. Virgil Popa and Dr. Marius Rus, County Emergency Clinical Hospital, Oradea; Dr. Dan Filip, County Emergency Hospital “Dr. Constantin Opris”, Baia Mare; Dr. Ni-colae Florescu, Polisano, Sibiu; Dr. Radu Pretorian and Dr. Ioan Bitea, County Emergency Hospital, Sibiu; Dr. Marian Albu and Dr. Victor Iorga, County Emergency Hospital, Ploiesti; Dr. Elvis Botu and Dr. Gabriel Stanica, County Emergency Hospital, Pitesti; Dr. Radu Stavaru and Dr. Paul Trasca; County Emergency Hospital, Craiova.

References
1. Lucian Predescu, Marin Postu, The workload of the Interventional Cardiology Centers from Romania: a 2018 overview and 2014-2018 trends, Romanian Journal of Cardiology, Vol. 29, No. 3, 2019, pag. 415-421
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