The impact of COVID-19 in larynx tumors diagnosis: IPO de Lisboa casuistic

Authors

  • Marisa Rosário Serviço de Otorrinolaringologia do Centro Hospitalar Universitário de Lisboa Central, Portugal
  • Beatriz Lança Serviço de Otorrinolaringologia do Centro Hospitalar Universitário de Lisboa Central, Portugal
  • Sónia Martins Serviço de Otorrinolaringologia do Centro Hospitalar de São João, Portugal
  • Ana Hebe Serviço de Otorrinolaringologia do Instituto Português de Oncologia de Lisboa Francisco Gentil, Portugal
  • Pedro Montalvão Serviço de Otorrinolaringologia do Instituto Português de Oncologia de Lisboa Francisco Gentil, Portugal
  • Miguel Magalhães Serviço de Otorrinolaringologia do Instituto Português de Oncologia de Lisboa Francisco Gentil, Portugal

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.34631/sporl.966

Keywords:

COVID-19, squamous cell carcinoma, larynx, neoplasm staging

Abstract

COVID-19 pandemic led to health care access restrictions with potential delays in the diagnosis and treatment of other diseases.

This retrospective study was based in the analysis of the access to ENT medical appointment in IPOLFG and the staging of larynx SCC in the first appointment, by comparing a period of 10 months after the outbreak beginning in Portugal and with an equal period in 2019. Number of medical appointments, diagnosed diseases and tumour staging were analyzed.

There was a significant reduction in the number of first appointments for patients with larynx pathology in comparison with the same period in the previous year (119 versus 159 appointments, resulting in diagnosis of 100 and 134 cases of larynx SCC, respectively). There was no significant difference in tumor staging between the studied groups.

Reduction in appointment numbers and decreasing in larynx SCC cases diagnosed may reflect COVID-19 effects in healthcare.

References

World Health Organization. Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) weekly epidemiological update [Internet] Geneva: WHO; 2020. Available from https://themimu.info/sites/themimu.info/files/documents/Weekly_Epidemiological_Update_-_Coronavirus_Disease_COVID-19_WHO_16Aug2020.pdf

Wu Z, McGoogan JM. Characteristics of and important lessons from the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak in China: summary of a report of 72 314 cases from the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention. JAMA. 2020 Apr 7;323(13):1239-1242. doi: 10.1001/jama.2020.2648.

Instituto Nacional de Estatística. Especial INE Covid 19. Síntese INE @ COVID-19. 2021. [Internet] Available from: https://www.ine.pt/xportal/xmain?xpgid=ine_covid_dossier&xpid=INE

Portugal. Direção-Geral da Saúde. COVID-19 - Relatório de Situação [Internet]. Lisboa: DGS; 2022. Available from: https://covid19.min-saude.pt/

Portugal. Direção-Geral da Saúde. Normas, Orientações e Informações. Lisboa: DGS; 2020. Available from: https://www.dgs.pt/publicacoes/normas-e-orientacoes.aspx

World Health Organization. COVID-19 significantly impacts health services for noncommunicable diseases. [Internet] Geneve: WHO; 2020. Available from: https://www.who.int/news/item/01-06-2020-covid-19-significantly-impacts-health-services-for-noncommunicable-diseases

Utilização dos serviços de saúde em tempos de COVID-19 [Internet] Lisboa: UNL Escola Nacional de Saúde Pública; 2020. Available from: https://barometro-covid-19.ensp.unl.pt/utilizacao-dos-servicos-de-saude-em-tempos-de-covid-19/

World Health Organization. Maintaining essential health services: operational guidance for the COVID-19 context, interim guidance, 1 June 2020. Geneva: WHO; 2020. Available from: https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/WHO-2019-nCoV-essential_health_services-2020.2

World Health Organization. 2019 Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCov): strategic preparedness and response plan. Geneva: WHO; 2020. Available from: https:// www.who.int/docs/default-source/coronaviruse/srp-04022020.pdf

Dinmohamed AG, Visser O, Verhoeven RHA, Louwman MWJ, van Nederveen FH, Willems SM. et al. Fewer cancer diagnoses during the COVID-19 epidemic in the Netherlands. Lancet Oncol. 2020 Jun;21(6):750-751. doi: 10.1016/S1470-2045(20)30265-5.

Kutikov A, Weinberg DS, Edelman MJ, Horwitz EM, Uzzo RG, Fisher RI. A war on two fronts: cancer care in the time of COVID-19. Ann Intern Med. 2020 Jun 2;172(11):756-758. doi: 10.7326/M20-1133.

Jones D, Neal RD, Duffy SRG, Scott SE, Whitaker KL, Brain K. Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the symptomatic diagnosis of cancer: the view from primary care. Lancet Oncol. 2020 Jun;21(6):748-750. doi: 10.1016/S1470-2045(20)30242-4.

Morais S, Antunes L, Rodrigues J, Fontes F, Bento MJ, Lunet N. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the diagnosis and treatment of cancer in northern Portugal. Int J Cancer. 2021 Jul 15;149(2):287-296. doi: 10.1002/ijc.33532.

Portugal. Direção-Geral da Saúde. Novo Coronavírus COVID-19 - Relatório de Situação [Internet]. Lisboa: DGS; 2020. https://covid19.min-saude.pt/relatorio-de-situacao/.

Downloads

Published

2022-06-07

How to Cite

Rosário, M., Lança, B., Martins, S., Hebe, A., Montalvão, P., & Magalhães, M. (2022). The impact of COVID-19 in larynx tumors diagnosis: IPO de Lisboa casuistic. Portuguese Journal of Otorhinolaryngology and Head and Neck Surgery, 60(2), 151–153. https://doi.org/10.34631/sporl.966

Issue

Vol. 60 No. 2 (2022): June

Section

Original Article

License

Copyright (c) 2022 Portuguese Journal of Otorhinolaryngology and Head and Neck Surgery

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.