Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Multicenter Study
. 2020 Dec;128(12):895-904.
doi: 10.1002/cncy.22354. Epub 2020 Sep 15.

Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on cytology practice: An international survey in the Asia-Pacific region

Yeh-Han Wang  1   2   3 , Andrey Bychkov  4   5 , Indranil Chakrabarti  6 , Deepali Jain  7 , Zhiyan Liu  8 , Shurong He  9 , Sitti Fatimah Hanum  10 , Ikmal Bakrin  11 , Felipe Templo Jr  12 , Truong Nguyen  13 , Priyanthi Kumarasinghe  14   15 , Chan Kwon Jung  16 , Kennichi Kakudo  17 , Chien-Chin Chen  18   19
Affiliations
Free article
Multicenter Study

Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on cytology practice: An international survey in the Asia-Pacific region

Yeh-Han Wang et al. Cancer Cytopathol. 2020 Dec.
Free article

Abstract

Background: The purpose of the current study was to examine the impact of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) on various aspects of cytology practice in the Asia-Pacific region.

Methods: An online questionnaire was distributed to cytopathology laboratories in 24 Asia-Pacific countries to explore the impact of restrictive measures on access to health care, use of general and personal protective equipment (PPE), and changes in cytology workflow and workload from February to April 2020.

Results: A total of 167 cytopathology laboratories from 24 countries responded to the survey; the majority reported that restrictive measures that limited the accessibility of health care services had been implemented in their cities and/or countries (80.8%) and their hospitals (83.8%). The respondents noted that COVID-19 had an impact on the cytologic workflow as well as the workload. Approximately one-half of the participants reported the implementation of new biosafety protocols (54.5%) as well as improvements in laboratory facilities (47.3%). Rearrangement or redeployment of the workforce was reported in 53.3% and 34.1% of laboratories, respectively. The majority of the respondents reported a significant reduction (>10%) in caseload associated with both gynecological (82.0%) and nongynecological specimens (78.4%). Most laboratories reported no significant change in the malignancy rates of both gynecological (67.7%) and nongynecological specimens (58.7%) compared with the same period in 2019.

Conclusions: The results of the survey demonstrated that the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in a significant reduction in the number of cytology specimens examined along with the need to implement new biosafety protocols. These findings underscore the need for the worldwide standardization of biosafety protocols and cytology practice.

Keywords: biosafety; coronavirus; coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19); cytology; laboratories; pathology.

PubMed Disclaimer

Comment in

References

    1. World Health Organization. Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV) situation report-1. Published January 21, 2020. Accessed August 7, 2020. https://www.who.int/docs/default-source/coronaviruse/situation-reports/2...
    1. Coronaviridae Study Group of the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses. The species severe acute respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus: classifying 2019-nCoV and naming it SARS-CoV-2. Nat Microbiol. 2020;5:536-544.
    1. Guarner J. Three emerging coronaviruses in two decades. Am J Clin Pathol. 2020;153:420-421.
    1. World Health Organization. Coronavirus disease (COVID-2019) situation report-1. Published January 21, 2020. Accessed August 7, 2020. https://www.who.int/docs/default-source/coronaviruse/situationreports/20...
    1. Hakim AA, Kellish AS, Atabek U, Spitz FR, Hong YK. Implications for the use of telehealth in surgical patients during the COVID-19 pandemic. Am J Surg. 2020;220:48-49.

Publication types

MeSH terms

LinkOut - more resources