Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Surgery for Thyroid Cancer

Conditions

Thyroid Carcinoma

Brief summary

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has heavily influenced routine medical care. In the first months of the pandemic, healthcare authorities restricted medical care to emergency procedures, postponing elective surgical activity. Conversely, screening programmes and planned examinations have been temporarily suspended or delayed. Gradually, elective surgery and clinical activities have resumed, thanks to the weakening of the pandemic, to a better organization of the healthcare systems and to the diffusion of COVID-19 vaccines. In the present study, we aim to evaluate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on surgery for thyroid carcinoma. Particularly, we aim to investigate whether the delay in operations, screening programmes, and planned examinations for patients under follow-up after thyroid surgery have led to an increased number of aggressive tumours. To evaluate this aspect, we aim to compare the patients who had undergone thyroidectomy for thyroid cancer before the COVID-19 pandemic (from February 2019 to February 2020), during the first phase of the pandemic (from March 2020 to September 2020), and after the first phase of the COVID-19 pandemic (from October 2020 to October 2021).

Medas F, Dobrinja C, Al-Suhaimi EA, Altmeier J, Anajar S, Arikan AE, Azaryan I, Bains L, Basili G, Bolukbasi H, Bononi M, Borumandi F, Bozan MB, Brenta G, Brunaud L, Brunner M, Buemi A, Canu GL, Cappellacci F, Cartwright SB, Castells Fusté I, Cavalheiro B, Cavallaro G, Chala A, Chan SYB, Chaplin J, Cheema MS, Chiapponi C, Chiofalo MG, Chrysos E, D'Amore A, de Cillia M, De Crea C, de Manzini N, de Matos LL, De Pasquale L, Del Rio P, Demarchi MS, Dhiwakar M, Donatini G, Dora JM, D'Orazi V, Doulatram Gamgaram VK, Eismontas V, Kabiri EH, El Malki HO, Elzahaby I, Enciu O, Eskander A, Feroci F, Figueroa-Bohorquez D, Filis D, François G, Frías-Fernández P, Gamboa-Dominguez A, Genc V, Giordano D, Gómez-Pedraza A, Graceffa G, Griffin J, Guerreiro SC, Gupta K, Gupta KK, Gurrado A, Hajiioannou J, Hakala T, Harahap WA, Hargitai L, Hartl D, Hellmann A, Hlozek J, Hoang VT, Iacobone M, Innaro N, Ioannidis O, Jang JHI, Xavier-Junior JC, Jovanovic M, Kaderli RM, Kakamad F, Kaliszewski K, Karamanliev M, Katoh H, Košec A, Kovacevic B, Kowalski LP, Králik R, Yadav SK, Kumorová A, Lampridis S, Lasithiotakis K, Leclere JC, Leong EKF, Leow MK, Lim JY, Lino-Silva LS, Liu SYW, Llorach NP, Lombardi CP, López-Gómez J, Lori E, Quintanilla-Dieck L, Lucchini R, Madani A, Manatakis D, Markovic I, Materazzi G, Mazeh H, Mercante G, Meyer-Rochow GY, Mihaljevic O, Miller JA, Minuto M, Monacelli M, Mulita F, Mullineris B, Muñoz-de-Nova JL, Muradás Girardi F, Nader S, Napadon T, Nastos C, Offi C, Ronen O, Oragano L, Orois A, Pan Y, Panagiotidis E, Panchangam RB, Papavramidis T, Parida PK, Paspala A, Pérez ÒV, Petrovic S, Raffaelli M, Ramacciotti CF, Ratia Gimenez T, Rivo Vázquez Á, Roh JL, Rossi L, Sanabria A, Santeerapharp A, Semenov A, Seneviratne S, Serdar A, Sheahan P, Sheppard SC, Slotcavage RL, Smaxwil C, Kim SY, Sorrenti S, Spartalis E, Sriphrapradang C, Testini M, Turk Y, Tzikos G, Vabalayte K, Vargas-Osorio K, Vázquez Rentería RS, Velázquez-Fernández D, Vithana SMP, Yücel L, Yulian ED, Zahradnikova P, Zarogoulidis P, Ziablitskaia E, Zolotoukho A, Calò PG, THYCOVID Collaboration Group.

2023-04-2817 citations

10.1016/s2213-8587(23)00094-3

Interventions

PROCEDUREThyroidectomy

Surgery for thyroid carcinoma

Study design

Allocation

NA

Intervention model

SINGLE_GROUP

Primary purpose

DIAGNOSTIC

Masking

NONE

Eligibility

Sex/Gender

ALL

Age

18 Years to No maximum

Healthy volunteers

No

Inclusion criteria

* Patients who have undergone thyroidectomy with preoperative diagnosis of thyroid cancer (cytological diagnosis, including Bethesda III, IV, IV or VI class, or high suspicion of thyroid carcinoma based on clinical and/or ultrasonographic features) during the study period (from February 2019 to October 2021) * Patients who underwent reoperative neck surgery for local recurrence of thyroid carcinoma during the study period (from February 2019 to October 2021)

Exclusion criteria

* Age \< 18 yo * Incidental diagnosis of thyroid carcinoma

Design outcomes

Primary

Measure	Time frame	Description
Incidence of aggressive thyroid cancers	36 months	Increase in the number of patients with aggressive thyroid carcinoma (intermediate and high risk of local recurrence, according to 2015 American Thyroid Association Guidelines on Thyroid Carcinoma), calculated as ratio between patients with aggressive thyroid carcinoma operated in pre-pandemic period and patients with aggressive thyroid carcinoma operated during covid-19 pandemic.

Countries

Italy

Outcome results

None listed