What is Elective Oncologic Surgery in the Time of COVID-19? A Literature Review of the Impact of Surgical Delays on Outcomes in Patients with Cancer

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Author Info

Stephen J. Savage Aaron P. Lesher Andrea Abbott Antonio Giordano Biqi Zhang David A. Mahvi David M. Mahvi Denise Garcia Denise Carneiro-Pla E. Ramsay Camp Julie B. Siegel Mahsa Javid Nancy Klauber DeMore Sara Giordano Whitney Graybill

Corresponding Author

Nancy Klauber DeMore
Department of Surgery, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, South Carolina, USA

A B S T R A C T

Background: The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has spread beyond those infected with SARS-CoV2. Its widespread consequences have affected cancer patients whose surgeries may be delayed in order to minimize exposure and conserve resources. Methods: Experts in each surgical oncology subspecialty were selected to perform a review of the relevant literature. Articles were obtained through PubMed searches in each cancer subtype using the following terms: delay to surgery, time to surgery, outcomes, and survival. Results: Delays in surgery > 4 weeks in breast cancer, ductal carcinoma in situ, T1 pancreatic cancer, ovarian cancer, and pediatric osteosarcoma, negatively impacted survival. Studies on hepatocellular cancer, colon cancer, and melanoma (Stage I) demonstrated reduced survival with delays > 3 months. Conclusion: Studies have shown that short-term surgical delays can result in negative impacts on patient outcomes in multiple cancer types as well as in situ carcinoma. Conversely, other cancers such as gastric cancer, advanced melanoma and pancreatic cancer, well-differentiated thyroid cancer, and several genitourinary cancers demonstrated no significant outcome differences with surgical delays.

Article Info

Article Type

Review Article

Publication history

Received: Fri 15, May 2020
Accepted: Mon 01, Jun 2020
Published: Fri 26, Jun 2020

Copyright

© 2023 Nancy Klauber DeMore. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Hosting by Science Repository.
DOI: 10.31487/j.COR.2020.06.05