COVID-19 Impact on Diagnosis and Staging of Colorectal Cancer: A Single Tertiary Canadian Oncology Center Experience.
Curr Oncol
; 29(5): 3282-3290, 2022 05 04.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1820195
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
Public health measures have imposed drastic reductions in cancer screening programs at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, with an unknown impact on the diagnosis and staging of colorectal cancer (CRC).METHODS:
Newly diagnosed CRC cases at the Centre Hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal (CHUM) were divided into two groups according to the timeline pre-pandemic (1 January 2018-12 March 2020), and pandemic (13 March 2020-30 June 2021) periods. Colonoscopy, surgery, and staging at diagnosis during the pandemic period were compared to the pre-pandemic period.RESULTS:
254 CRC diagnoses were made during the pre-pandemic period in comparison to 125 during the pandemic period. Mean diagnosis rates were lower in the pandemic period (7.8 vs. 9.8 diagnoses/month, p = 0.048). Colonoscopy deadlines were less respected in the pandemic period (51.7% vs. 38.3%, p = 0.049). The rate of elective surgery did not differ (2.9 vs. 3.5 surgeries/month, p = 0.39) and mean delays were similar (58.6 vs. 60.4 days, p = 0.77). Stages at diagnosis did not differ (p = 0.17). Most of the delayed colonoscopies led to a stage 0 or I CRC (p = 0.2).CONCLUSION:
In our center, the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in a decreased rate of CRC diagnosis and increased endoscopic delays without affecting the rate of advanced stage disease. Delays to surgery were quite similar once the CRC diagnosis was established.Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Colorectal Neoplasms
/
COVID-19
Type of study:
Diagnostic study
/
Experimental Studies
/
Observational study
/
Randomized controlled trials
Limits:
Humans
Country/Region as subject:
North America
Language:
English
Journal:
Curr Oncol
Year:
2022
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Curroncol29050268
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