Impact of COVID-19 on Head and Neck Cancer Detection in Hospital Sungai Buloh : Full COVID-19 Centre

Introduction  
This study was conducted to compare the pick-up rates of head and neck malignancies, duration of symptoms prior to first presentation to hospital and duration to commence treatment among newly diagnosed patients with head and neck malignancy during the COVID-19 pandemic.  

Methodology  
This cohort retrospective study includes newly diagnosed patients aged above 18 with head and neck malignancies based on histopathological diagnosis from January 2019 till December 2020.Descriptive analysis was performed and using SPSS, quantitative data was analyzed with t-test and qualitative data analyzed with Chi-square test.  p value of less than .05 was considered statistically significant.  

Results   
There was a significant drop of 56.1% in the total number of new referrals from 12,371 in 2019 to 5,425 in 2020 (p= .00001). The pick-up rate for the number of cancer cases based on the overall new referrals increased from 0.27% to 0.39%. The duration to seek the first consultation from the time of symptom appearance had shorten with 23.8% of the patients coming within 1 month of symptoms as compared to 12.1% in 2019. More patients began definitive treatment within a month with 66.7% in 2020 as compared to 51.5% in 2019.  

Discussion/Conclusion  
COVID-19, has resulted cancer patients to begin definitive treatment within a month of diagnosis as a result of reduced patient load, by having an earlier imaging, biopsy and appointment dates at respective Oncology centers.Strategic measures taken (i.e. having an isolated scope room & scoping patients at predetermined time) has improved the cancer pick-up rates while ensuring the safety of healthcare providers.  

Disclaimer: Abstract text might vary slightly from what is displayed in the e-poster.