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
. 2021 Jul;124(1):7-15.
doi: 10.1002/jso.26475. Epub 2021 Mar 25.

Assessing the immediate impact of COVID-19 on surgical oncology practice: Experience from an NCI-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center in the Northeastern United States

Victor Gazivoda  1 , Alissa Greenbaum  1 , Joshua Roshal  2 , Jenna Lee  2 , Lekha Reddy  2 , Shahyan Rehman  2 , Aaron Kangas-Dick  1 , Stephanie Gregory  1 , Maria Kowzun  1 , Ruth Stephenson  1 , Amanda Laird  1 , H R Alexander  1 , Adam C Berger  1
Affiliations

Assessing the immediate impact of COVID-19 on surgical oncology practice: Experience from an NCI-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center in the Northeastern United States

Victor Gazivoda et al. J Surg Oncol. 2021 Jul.

Abstract

Background: The effects of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on surgical oncology practice are not yet quantified. The aim of this study was to measure the immediate impact of COVID-19 on surgical oncology practice volume.

Methods: A retrospective study of patients treated at an NCI-Comprehensive Cancer Center was performed. "Pre-COVID" era was defined as January-February 2020 and "COVID" as March-April 2020. Primary outcomes were clinic visits and operative volume by surgical oncology subspecialty.

Results: Abouyt 907 new patient visits, 3897 follow-up visits, and 644 operations occurred during the study period. All subspecialties experienced significant decreases in new patient visits during COVID, though soft tissue oncology (Mel/Sarc), gynecologic oncology (Gyn/Onc), and endocrine were disproportionately affected. Telehealth visits increased to 11.4% of all visits by April. Mel/Sarc, Gyn/Onc, and Breast experienced significant operative volume decreases during COVID (25.8%, p = 0.012, 43.6% p < 0.001, and 41.9%, p < 0.001, respectively), while endocrine had no change and gastrointestinal oncology had a slight increase (p = 0.823) in the number of cases performed.

Conclusions: The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic are wide-ranging within surgical oncology subspecialties. The addition of telehealth is a viable avenue for cancer patient care and should be considered in surgical oncology practice.

Keywords: COVID-19; clinic volume; operative volume; pandemic; telehealth.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Trends in outpatient total clinic visits [Color figure can be viewed at wileyonlinelibrary.com]
Figure 2
Figure 2
Trends in new patient clinic visits [Color figure can be viewed at wileyonlinelibrary.com]
Figure 3
Figure 3
Trends in follow‐up visits [Color figure can be viewed at wileyonlinelibrary.com]
Figure 4
Figure 4
Reduction in new patient clinic visits, by specialty [Color figure can be viewed at wileyonlinelibrary.com]
Figure 5
Figure 5
Trends in number of operations performed, by specialty [Color figure can be viewed at wileyonlinelibrary.com]
Figure 6
Figure 6
Reduction in number of operations, by specialty [Color figure can be viewed at wileyonlinelibrary.com]
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Huang C, Wang Y, Li X, et al. Clinical features of patients infected with 2019 novel coronavirus in Wuhan, China. Lancet. 2020;395(10223):497‐506. 10.1016/S0140-6736(20)30183-5 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Center for Disease Control (CDC) . United States COVID‐19 Cases and Deaths by State. Published 2020. https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#cases_casesper100klast7days. Accessed December 17, 2020.
    1. ASCA Foundation. State Guidance on Elective Surgeries . Published 2020. https://www.ascassociation.org/asca/resourcecenter/latestnewsresourcecen.... Accessed December 17, 2020.
    1. American College of Surgeons . COVID‐19: Recommendations for Management of Elective Surgical Procedures. Published 2020. https://www.facs.org/covid-19/clinical-guidance/elective-surgery. Accessed December 13, 2020.
    1. Bartlett DL, Howe JR, Chang G, et al. Management of cancer surgery cases during the COVID‐19 pandemic: considerations. Ann Surg Oncol. 2020;27(6):1717‐1720. 10.1245/s10434-020-08461-2 - DOI - PMC - PubMed

MeSH terms