ABSTRACT
Lung cancer services have been reportedly affected in several ways by C19 across the UK. The early diagnosis oflung cancer is pivotal for better prognostic outcomes. EBUS-TBNA is a vital step in diagnosis and staging of lungcancer in patients with mediastinal disease. The aim of this single centre retrospective review was to determine theimpact of C19 on the number of EBUS cases and the sampling to histology turn-around time (HTT). Weretrospectively collected data of 682 patients whom underwent EBUS between 2015 and 2021 and did a detailedanalysis of the years 2016, 2018, 2020 and 2021 for comparison of HTT.The number of EBUS cases declined steeply in 2020 and 2021 to 42 and 69 respectively whilst median proceduresdone in preceding years were 118 (IQR 114-119). The HTT was interestingly less severely affected in 2020 whenmedian time was 7 (IQR 6-12) days (compared to median time of 6 (IQR 5-8) and 7 (IQR 6-9) days in 2016 and 2018respectively). The median time for HTT increased to 10 days (IQR 7.75 - 20.25) in 2021. These results could be dueto less procedures and lower C19 related sickness absences in 2020. The longest HTT in the years 2016, 2018,2020 and 2021 were 23, 28, 22, 34 days respectively.Our review confirms the detrimental effects of C19 on EBUS services in our centre, where the procedure numbersplummeted in 2020 and 2021 and HTT increased significantly. More importantly, it shows the longer term effects of C19 on the services, given the HTT is worst in 2021 despite the resumption of regular EBUS services.