Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
Department of Otorhinolaryngology, University Clinical Center Tuzla, Tuzla, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Biomol Biomed. 2024 Jan 3;24(1):188-195. doi: 10.17305/bb.2023.9481.
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has significantly impacted the treatment of cancer patients, particularly in terms of treatment choices. This study aimed to assess the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the management of surgically treated laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma (LSCC) patients, focusing specifically on changes in treatment modalities. We retrospectively analyzed the data from 102 patients who underwent surgical treatment for LSCC between January 1, 2019, and December 31, 2021, at our tertiary medical center. Patient demographics, histological characteristics, and treatment modalities were extracted from electronic medical records and compared between two time periods: pre-COVID-19 and during COVID-19, marked by the introduction of the hospital entry triage. Of the total patients, 53 (52%) were in the pre-COVID-19 group, and 49 (48%) were in the COVID-19 group. No significant differences in patient characteristics at the initial work-up were observed between the two groups. However, a significant shift in treatment modalities was noted. Fewer patients received postoperative adjuvant therapy in the COVID-19 group (70.5%) compared to the pre-COVID-19 group (95.5%). Importantly, this change did not significantly impact the one-year overall survival (OS) rates. The reduction in the use of postoperative adjuvant therapy during the COVID-19 pandemic may be attributed to efforts to minimize hospital visits due to the risk of COVID-19 infection. Further research is warranted to validate these findings and to investigate the potential effects of such changes in treatment modalities on the long-term survival.
新型冠状病毒肺炎（COVID-19）大流行对癌症患者的治疗产生了重大影响，尤其是在治疗选择方面。本研究旨在评估 COVID-19 大流行对接受手术治疗的喉鳞状细胞癌（LSCC）患者管理的影响，重点关注治疗方式的变化。我们回顾性分析了 2019 年 1 月 1 日至 2021 年 12 月 31 日期间在我们的三级医疗中心接受手术治疗的 102 例 LSCC 患者的数据。从电子病历中提取患者的人口统计学、组织学特征和治疗方式，并将其在两个时期（COVID-19 之前和 COVID-19 期间，以医院入院分诊为标志）进行比较。在总患者中，53 例（52%）为 COVID-19 之前组，49 例（48%）为 COVID-19 组。两组患者初诊时的特征无显著差异。然而，治疗方式发生了显著变化。COVID-19 组术后辅助治疗的患者比例（70.5%）明显低于 COVID-19 之前组（95.5%）。重要的是，这一变化并未显著影响一年总体生存率（OS）。COVID-19 大流行期间术后辅助治疗的减少可能归因于由于 COVID-19 感染风险而尽量减少医院就诊的努力。需要进一步的研究来验证这些发现，并研究治疗方式的这些变化对长期生存的潜在影响。
