Oncopathology Research Center, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran (the Islamic Republic of)
Department of Molecular Medicine, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran (the Islamic Republic of).
BMJ Open. 2023 Mar 10;13(3):e069720. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2022-069720.
The COVID-19 pandemic has changed aspects of patient care in the many scheduled medical activities, restricted access to healthcare facilities, and affected the diagnosis and organisation of patients with other health problems, specifically skin cancer. Skin cancer, the uninhibited progress of atypical skin cells, happens with unrepaired DNA genetic faults that lead them to multiply and create malignant tumours. Currently, dermatologists perform skin cancer diagnosis based on their specialised experience using the results of pathological tests from the skin biopsy. Sometimes, some specialists advise sonography imaging to check the skin tissue as a non-invasive method. The outbreak has led to postponements in the treatment and diagnosis of patients with skin cancer, including diagnostic delays because of limitations of diagnostic capacities and delays in referring patients to the physician. The purpose of this review is to improve our understanding of the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on the diagnosis of patients with skin cancer and conduct a scoping review to identify whether routine skin cancer diagnoses are affected by the persistent incidence of COVID-19.
The structure of research was compiled using Population/Intervention/Comparison/Outcomes/Study Design and Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines. First, we will find the main keywords to capture scientific studies related to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the diagnosis of skin cancer: COVID-19 and skin neoplasms. To warrant sufficient coverage and identify potential articles, we will search the combination of four electronic databases PubMed/MEDLINE, Scopus, Web of Science and EMBASE, and ProQuest from 1 January 2019 until 30 September 2022. The screening, selection and data extraction of studies will be performed by two independent authors, who will then assessed the quality of the included studies according to Newcastle-Ottawa Scale.
As this study will be a systematic review without human participants' involvement, no formal ethical assessment is required. Findings will be presented at conferences related to this field and will be disseminated in a peer-reviewed journal.
CRD42022361569.
COVID-19 大流行改变了许多预定医疗活动中的患者护理方面，限制了对医疗设施的访问，并影响了其他健康问题（特别是皮肤癌）患者的诊断和组织。皮肤癌是指不受抑制的异常皮肤细胞的进展，发生在未修复的 DNA 遗传缺陷导致它们繁殖并产生恶性肿瘤时。目前，皮肤科医生根据他们的专业经验使用皮肤活检的病理检查结果来诊断皮肤癌。有时，一些专家建议使用超声成像来检查皮肤组织，作为一种非侵入性方法。疫情导致皮肤癌患者的治疗和诊断被推迟，包括由于诊断能力的限制导致的诊断延迟，以及将患者转介给医生的延迟。本综述的目的是提高我们对 COVID-19 大流行对皮肤癌患者诊断的影响的认识，并进行范围综述，以确定常规皮肤癌诊断是否受到持续 COVID-19 发病率的影响。
研究结构是根据人群/干预/比较/结果/研究设计和系统评价和荟萃分析的首选报告项目指南编制的。首先，我们将找到主要关键词来捕获与 COVID-19 大流行对皮肤癌诊断影响相关的科学研究：COVID-19 和皮肤肿瘤。为了保证充分的覆盖范围并确定潜在的文章，我们将从 2019 年 1 月 1 日至 2022 年 9 月 30 日，在四个电子数据库 PubMed/MEDLINE、Scopus、Web of Science 和 EMBASE 以及 ProQuest 中搜索组合。将由两名独立作者进行研究的筛选、选择和数据提取，然后根据纽卡斯尔-渥太华量表评估纳入研究的质量。
由于本研究将是一项不涉及人类参与者的系统评价，因此不需要进行正式的伦理评估。研究结果将在相关领域的会议上展示，并将在同行评议的期刊上发表。
PROSPERO 注册号：CRD42022361569。
