The Impact of COVID-19 on Gastric Cancer Surgery: A Single-center Retrospective Study Based on Real-world Data (preprint)

ABSTRACT

Background ： A respiratory epidemic defined as coronavirus disease 2019 ( COVID-19 ) is becoming unstoppable and has been declared a pandemic. Patients with cancer are more likely to develop COVID-19. Based on our experience during the pandemic period, we propose some surgery strategies for gastric cancer patients under the COVID-19 situation. Methods ： We defined the ‘COVID-19’ period as occurring between 2020-01-20 and 2020-03-20. All the enrolled patients were divided into two groups, pre-COVID-19 group (PCG) and COVID-19 group (CG). A total of 109 patients with gastric cancer were enrolled in this study. Results ： The waiting times before admission increased by 4 days in CG(PCG4.5 [IQR 2, 7.8] vs. CG8.0 [IQR 2,20]; P = 0.006). More patients had performed chest CT scan besides abdominal CT before admission during COVID-19 period(PCG22[32%]vs. CG30[73%], p=0.001). After admission, during COVID period, the waiting time before surgery was longer(3[IQR 2,5] vs. 7[IQR 5,9]; P < 0.001),more laparoscopic surgery were performed(PCG 51[75%] vs. CG 38[92%],p=0.021), and hospital stay after surgery was longer (7[IQR 6,8] vs.9[IQR7,11] ; P < 0.001). The total cost of hospitalization increased during COVID period, (9.22[IQR7.82,10.97] vs. 10.42[IQR8.99,12.57]; p=0.006). Conclusion ： Since no data is available yet on the impact of COVID-19 on gastric cancer patients,our own experience with COVID-19 in gastric cancer surgery has hopefully provided an opportunity for colleagues to reflect on their own service and any contingency plans they have to tackle the crisis.  Keywords  gastric cancer; coronavirus disease 2019; COVID-19; retrospective analysis; real-world data.