The impact of treatment delay on skin cancer in COVID-19 era: a case-control study.
World J Surg Oncol
; 19(1): 350, 2021 Dec 24.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1637517
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
The outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic led to a 2-month lockdown in Europe. Elective surgeries, including skin cancer excisions, were postponed. The purpose of this prospective case-control study was to assess the impact of the treatment delay on patients with non-melanoma skin cancer (NMSC) or melanoma operated in the first post-lockdown period.METHODS:
A comparative study of skin cancer operations performed in a 4-month period either in 2020 or in 2019 was conducted. All data were collected from a prospectively maintained clinic database and the pathological reports. Continuous variables were compared with t test or Mann-Whitney U test according to their distribution. Categorical variables were compared with Fisher exact test. Odds ratio (OR) with 95% confidence interval (95% CI) was used to assess the risk of excising high-risk NMSC in 2020 compared with 2019.RESULTS:
Skin cancer excision was performed in 158 cases in 2020 compared to 125 cases in 2019 (26.4% increase). Significantly, more SCC were excised in 2020 (p = 0.024). No significant difference for several clinical parameters regarding BCC, SCC, and melanoma was identified. However, the reconstructive method applied, following NMSC excision, was significantly different, requiring frequently either skin grafting or a flap.CONCLUSION:
These results indicate that skin cancer treatment delay, due to COVID-19 pandemic, is related to an increased incidence of SCC and more complicated methods of reconstruction. Considering the relapsing COVID-19 waves, significant skin cancer treatment delays should be avoided. TRIAL REGISTRATION The study adhered to the STROBE statement for case-control studies.Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Skin Neoplasms
/
Carcinoma, Basal Cell
/
COVID-19
Type of study:
Experimental Studies
/
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
/
Randomized controlled trials
Limits:
Humans
Language:
English
Journal:
World J Surg Oncol
Year:
2021
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
S12957-021-02468-z
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