Cwintal M, Shih H, Idrissi Janati A, Gigliotti J
Faculty of Dental Medicine and Oral Health Sciences, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada.
Faculty of Dental Medicine and Oral Health Sciences, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada; Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, McGill University Health Centre, Montreal, QC, Canada.
Int J Oral Maxillofac Surg. 2024 Aug;53(8):629-634. doi: 10.1016/j.ijom.2024.02.003. Epub 2024 Feb 22.
The COVID-19 pandemic placed a significant burden on healthcare resources, limiting care to emergent and essential services only. The objective of this study was to describe the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the diagnosis and progression of oral cancer lesions in Montreal, Canada. A retrospective analysis of health records was performed. Patients presenting for a new oncology consultation for an oral lesion suspicious for cancer between March 2018 and March 2022, within the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery of the McGill University Health Center, were included. Data was collected on sociodemographic characteristics, oral cancer risk behaviors of study participants, oral cancer delays, tumor characteristics, and clinical management. A total of 190 patients were included, 91 patients from the pre-pandemic period and 99 from the pandemic period. The demographic characteristics of the patients in the two periods were comparable. There was no significant difference in the patient, professional, or treatment delay between the two periods. There was a non-significant increase in pathologic tumor size during the pandemic, but the pathologic staging and postoperative outcomes were comparable to those of the pre-pandemic cohort. The results indicate that emergent care pathways for oral cancer treatment were efficiently maintained despite the pandemic shutdown of services.
新冠疫情给医疗资源带来了巨大负担,使得医疗服务仅局限于紧急和必要的服务。本研究的目的是描述新冠疫情对加拿大蒙特利尔市口腔癌病变诊断和进展的影响。我们对健康记录进行了回顾性分析。纳入了2018年3月至2022年3月期间在麦吉尔大学健康中心口腔颌面外科就诊、因口腔病变疑似癌症而进行新的肿瘤学咨询的患者。收集了研究参与者的社会人口学特征、口腔癌风险行为、口腔癌诊断延迟、肿瘤特征和临床管理等数据。总共纳入了190名患者,其中91名来自疫情前时期,99名来自疫情时期。两个时期患者的人口学特征具有可比性。两个时期在患者、专业或治疗延迟方面没有显著差异。疫情期间病理肿瘤大小有不显著的增加,但病理分期和术后结果与疫情前队列相当。结果表明,尽管疫情导致服务中断,但口腔癌治疗的紧急护理途径仍得到了有效维持。