Digital Cardiac Counseling Trial: DCC Trial

Most patients undergoing a cardiovascular procedure need an ICU-bed during the hospitalization and therefore it is possible that for the unforeseen future, because of the Covid-19 crisis, many patients will stay on the waiting list for many months to come. There are some studies showing an increased mortality associated with an increased waiting time for the patients on the waiting list for an elective cardiac surgery. However, there is no data on the evolution of the morbidity, the quality of life and the symptomatology of the patients waiting for an elective operation. Also it is not clear whether the period of waiting for an elective cardiovascular operation would impact the morbidity or the mortality of the planned operation at later stage. Furthermore, there is a plethora of studies on risk factors associated with the perioperative morbidity and mortality in general. Therefore, the rationale of the current study is to evaluate whether Digital Cardiac Counseling (DCC) would improve outcomes of the patients waiting for an elective cardiac operation. At the DCC platform, there will be assessments of cardiovascular symptoms, Covid-19 prevention for cardiovascular patients, smoking cessation, anxiety relief, exercise stimulation, pulmonary rehabilitation and diet adjustments. This will be done by means of questionnaires and E-consults.