The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Italian population-based cancer screening activities and test coverage: Results from national cross-sectional repeated surveys in 2020.

Background: In Italy, regions have the mandate to implement population-based screening programs for breast, cervical, and colorectal cancer. From March to May 2020, a severe lockdown was imposed due to the COVID-19 pandemic by the Italian Ministry of Health, with the suspension of screening programs. This paper describes the impact of the pandemic on Italian screening activities and test coverage in 2020 overall and by socioeconomic characteristics. Methods: The regional number of subjects invited and of screening tests performed in 2020 were compared with those in 2019. Invitation and examination coverage were also calculated. PASSI surveillance system, through telephone interviews, collects information about screening test uptake by test provider (public screening and private opportunistic). Test coverage and test uptake in the last year were computed by educational attainment, perceived economic difficulties, and citizenship. Results: A reduction of subjects invited and tests performed, with differences between periods and geographical macro areas, was observed in 2020 vs. 2019. The reduction in examination coverage was larger than that in invitation coverage for all screening programs. From the second half of 2020, the trend for test coverage showed a decrease in all the macro areas for all the screening programs. Compared with the pre-pandemic period, there was a greater difference according to the level of education in the odds of having had a test last year vs. never having been screened or not being up to date with screening tests. Conclusions: The lockdown and the ongoing COVID-19 emergency caused an important delay in screening activities. This increased the preexisting individual and geographical inequalities in access. The opportunistic screening did not mitigate the impact of the pandemic. Funding: This study was partially supported by Italian Ministry of Health - Ricerca Corrente Annual Program 2023 and by the Emilian Region DGR 839/22.

Cancer screening programmes in Italy during the COVID-19 pandemic: an update of a nationwide survey on activity volumes and delayed diagnoses.

INTRODUCTION: In Italy, regional governments are in charge of implementing cervical, breast and colorectal cancer screening programmes. The 2020 Coronavirus pandemic led to a national lockdown and the temporary suspension of several non-urgent healthcare activities, including cancer screening. This paper aims to describe the results of a national survey carried out by the National Centre for Screening Monitoring (ONS) on cervical, breast and colorectal cancer screening activities in 2020. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A national survey was conducted by ONS in 2020 to assess: the number of screening invitations by Region; the volumes of screening tests and the attitude to attend the screening programme compared to 2019; the number of delayed diagnoses of malignant or pre-malignant lesions caused by the slowing down of screening programmes, based on the average Region-specific screening detection rate for cervical, breast and colorectal cancers. RESULTS: Screening tests for breast, colorectal and cervical cancer decreased by 37.6%, 45.5% and 43.4% in 2020 compared with 2019. In 2020 the estimated numbers of undiagnosed lesions are: 3,324 breast cancers, 1,299 colorectal cancers, 7,474 colorectal advanced adenomas and 2,782 CIN2 or more severe cervical lesions. Participation in cancer screening programmes decreased by 15%, 15% and 20%, for cervical, breast and CRC screening, respectively. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS: An urgent call to action is needed to prevent further delays and to limit the impact of the pandemic on cancer diagnosis and prevention.

A Retrospective Cohort Study of Young Women Spontaneously Choosing to Be Vaccinated against HPV: Outcomes from Their First Cervical Cancer Screening Test.

BACKGROUND: Efficacy for cervical cancer prevention of opportunistic HPV vaccination in post-pubertal girls is lower than in 11-year-olds. METHODS: Women born between 1986 and 1992 vaccinated at 15-25 years of age (at least one dose of 4-valent HPV vaccine) and screened at 24-27 years of age were included. Frequency of opportunistic vaccination, overall and by birth cohort, was calculated; screening outcomes were compared between vaccinated and unvaccinated women. RESULTS: Overall, 4718 (4.9%) HPV-vaccinated, and 91,512 unvaccinated, women were studied. The frequency of vaccination increased by birth cohort, ranging between 1.8% and 9.8%; age at vaccination decreased progressively by birth cohort (p < 0.0001). Participation in screening was 60.8% among vaccinated, and 56.6% among unvaccinated, women (p < 0.0001). Detection rates (DR) for high-grade lesions were lower in vaccinated women (2.11‰ vs. 3.85‰ in unvaccinated, for CIN3+, p = 0.24; 0.0‰ vs. 0.22‰ for cancer). The DR of CIN3+ increased with age at vaccination, scoring respectively 0.0‰, 0.83‰, and 4.68‰ for women vaccinated when they were 15-16, 17-20, and 21-25 years old (p = 0.17). CONCLUSIONS: In comparison to unvaccinated women, higher compliance with cervical cancer screening invitation and lower CIN3+ DR among vaccinated women was observed. Age at vaccination was inversely correlated to vaccination efficacy.

[Oncological organized screening programmes in the COVID-19 era: an Italian survey on accrued delays, reboot velocity, and diagnostic delay estimates]. / Ritardi maturati dai programmi di screening oncologici ai tempi del COVID-19 in Italia, velocità della ripartenza e stima dei possibili ritardi diagnostici.

OBJECTIVES: to describe the course of Italian organized cancer screening programmes during the COVID-19 emergency; to provide estimates of the diagnosis of malignant or pre-malignant lesions that will face a diagnostic delay due to the slowing down of screening activities. DESIGN: quantitative survey of aggregated data for each Region and overall for Italy relating to screening tests carried out in the period January-May 2020 compared to those of the same period of 2019; estimate of diagnostic delays starting from the calculation of the average detection rate of the last 3 years available (specific by Region). SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: Italian mass screening programmes. Data on the tests carried out in the target population of the breast (women 50-69 years old), cervix (women 25-64 years old), and colorectal (women and men 50-69 years old) cancer screening. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: the cumulative delay (in absolute numbers and as a percentage) in the period January-May 2020 compared to the same period of 2019, by Region; the difference of screening tests (in absolute number and in percentage) performed in May 2020 compared to May 2019; the estimate of the fewer lesions diagnosed in 2020 compared with 2019 with relative 95% confidence intervals (95%CI); the 'standard months' of delay (proportion of fewer tests carried out from January to May 2020 for the corresponding number of months). RESULTS: 20 Regions out of 21 participated. In the period January-May 2020, the fewer screening tests performed in comparison with the same period of 2019 were: 472,389 (equal to 53.8%) with an average delay of standard months of 2.7 for mammography screening; 585,287 (equal to 54.9%) with an average delay of standard months of 2.7 for colorectal screening; 371,273 (equal to 55.3%) with an average delay of 2.8 standard months for cervical screening. The estimated number of undiagnosed lesions is 2,201 (95%CI 2,173-2,220) breast cancers; 645 (95%CI 632-661) colorectal carcinomas; 3,890 (95%CI 3,855-3,924) advanced colorectal adenomas and 1,497 (95%CI 1,413-1,586) CIN2 or more serious lesions. CONCLUSIONS: mass screenings need to be restarted as quickly as possible. In order to make up for the delay that is accumulating, it is necessary to provide for wider delivery times, greater resources, and new organizational approaches. It will also be essential to develop communication strategies suitable for promoting participation during this emergency.

Complications and mortality in a cohort of patients undergoing emergency and elective surgery with perioperative SARS-CoV-2 infection: an Italian multicenter study. Teachings of Phase 1 to be brought in Phase 2 pandemic.

Since the beginning of the pandemic due to the novel severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and its related disease, coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), several articles reported negative outcomes in surgery of infected patients. Aim of this study is to report results of patients with COVID-19-positive swab, in the perioperative period after surgery. Data of COVID-19-positive patients undergoing emergent or oncological surgery, were collected in a retrospective, multicenter study, which involved 20 Italian institutions. Collected parameters were age, sex, body mass index, COVID-19-related symptoms, patients' comorbidities, surgical procedure, personal protection equipment (PPE) used in operating rooms, rate of postoperative infection among healthcare staff and complications, within 30-postoperative days. 68 patients, who underwent surgery, resulted COVID-19-positive in the perioperative period. Symptomatic patients were 63 (92.5%). Fever was the main symptom in 36 (52.9%) patients, followed by dyspnoea (26.5%) and cough (13.2%). We recorded 22 (32%) intensive care unit admissions, 23 (33.8%) postoperative pulmonary complications and 15 (22%) acute respiratory distress syndromes. As regards the ten postoperative deaths (14.7%), 6 cases were related to surgical complications. One surgeon, one scrub nurse and two circulating nurses were infected after surgery due to the lack of specific PPE. We reported less surgery-related pulmonary complications and mortality in Sars-CoV-2-infected patients, than in literature. Emergent and oncological surgery should not be postponed, but it is mandatory to use full PPE, and to adopt preoperative screenings and strategies that mitigate the detrimental effect of pulmonary complications, mostly responsible for mortality.

Guidelines Adaptation to the COVID-19 Outbreak for the Management of Hepatocellular Carcinoma.

Background: COVID-19 pandemic rendered the surgical approach as well as the surgical indication very complex due to the outstanding consumption of public health system' resources, especially in the intensive care subdivision. A multidisciplinary team-based strategy is necessary to adapt guidelines and medical practices to the actual situation. The aim of this study is to evaluate the changes in the therapeutic algorithm in a small group of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) enlisted for surgery during the COVID-19 outbreak. Materials and Methods: A multidisciplinary strategy has been adopted to allocate HCC patients to a treatment that permitted to reduce the risk of complications and the hospital stay, thus preventing contamination by the virus. Nasopharyngeal swab and a chest radiograph were performed in all patients within 48 hours before the surgical procedure: in the suspected cases with negative COVID tests, we prudently postponed surgery and repeated the diagnostic tests after 15 days. Results: During the emergency state, 11 HCC patients were treated (8 laparoscopic ablations and 3 hepatic resections). We reported only 1 postoperative complication (hemothorax) and 1 death during the follow-up for COVID pneumonia. Comparing our performances with those in the same time frame in the past 4 years, we treated a similar number of HCC patients, obtaining a decrease in operative timing (P = .0409) and hospital stay (P = .0412) (Fig. 2b) with similar rates of immediate postoperative complications, without ICU admissions. Conclusions: An adapted algorithm for the treatment of HCC to COVID outbreak permitted to manage safely these patients by identifying those most at risk of evolution of the neoplastic disease.

Bariatric surgery and the COVID-19 pandemic: SICOB recommendations on how to perform surgery during the outbreak and when to resume the activities in phase 2 of lockdown.

The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and its related disease, coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), has been rapidly spreading all over the world and is responsible for the current pandemic. The current pandemic has found the Italian national health system unprepared to provide an appropriate and prompt response, heavily affecting surgical activities. Based on the limited data available in the literature and personal experiences, the Società Italiana di Chirurgia dell'OBesità e Malattie Metaboliche (SICOB) provides recommendations regarding the triage of bariatric surgical procedures during the COVID-19 pandemic defining a dedicated path for surgery in morbidly obese patients with known or suspected COVID-19 who may require emergency operations. Finally, the current paper delineates a strategy to resume outpatient visits and elective bariatric surgery once the acute phase of the pandemic is over. Models developed during the COVID-19 crisis should be integrated into hospital practices for future use in similar scenarios. Surgeons are presented with a golden opportunity to embrace systemic change and to drive their professional future.