West Virginia University, Morgantown, West Virginia, USA.
University of Kentucky Markey Cancer Center, Lexington, Kentucky, USA.
Head Neck. 2020 Jun;42(6):1168-1172. doi: 10.1002/hed.26189. Epub 2020 Apr 28.
The SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) pandemic has caused rapid changes in head and neck cancer (HNC) care. "Real-time" methods to monitor practice patterns can optimize provider safety and patient care.
Head and neck surgeons from 14 institutions in the United States regularly contributed their practice patterns to a shared spreadsheet. Data from 27 March 2020 to 5 April 2020 was analyzed.
All institutions had significantly restricted HNC clinic evaluations. Two institutions stopped free-flap surgery with the remaining scheduling surgery by committee review. Factors contributing to reduced clinical volume included lack of personal protective equipment (PPE) (35%) and lack of rapid COVID-19 testing (86%).
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a reduction in HNC care. Rapid COVID-19 testing and correlation with infectious potential remain paramount to resuming the care of patients with head and neck cancer. Cloud-based platforms to share practice patterns will be essential as the pandemic evolves.
SARS-CoV-2(COVID-19)大流行导致头颈部癌症(HNC)治疗迅速变化。“实时”监测实践模式的方法可以优化提供者的安全性和患者护理。
来自美国 14 个机构的头颈部外科医生定期将其实践模式贡献到一个共享的电子表格中。对 2020 年 3 月 27 日至 2020 年 4 月 5 日的数据进行了分析。
所有机构均显著限制了 HNC 临床评估。有两个机构停止了游离皮瓣手术,其余的手术通过委员会审查来安排。导致临床量减少的因素包括缺乏个人防护设备(PPE)(35%)和缺乏快速 COVID-19 检测(86%)。
COVID-19 大流行导致 HNC 治疗减少。快速 COVID-19 检测及其与传染性的相关性仍然是恢复头颈部癌症患者护理的关键。随着大流行的发展,基于云的共享实践模式平台将是必不可少的。