Atatürk Üniversitesi Tıp Fakültesi Cerrahi Tıp Bilimleri Dergisi (Apr 2023)
Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on skin cancer diagnosis: A Single-Center Study
Abstract
Objectives: The COVID-19 pandemic has had a profound impact on healthcare workers worldwide, including in dermatology and pathology. Under these conditions, admitted patient numbers, excision/biopsy numbers, and malignant/benign ratios were influenced. This study aimed to analyze the differences in the diagnoses of the radically excised skin tumors or skin biopsies. Methods: A cross-sectional study was performed between September 2018 and August 2021. Of the 11,501 total cases, 7602 were established during the non-COVID-19 period (September 2018- March 2020) and 3899 cases were established during the COVID-19 period (March 2020-August 2021). Malignant cases were classified as squamous cell carcinoma (SCC), basal cell carcinoma (BCC), and malignant melanoma (MM).Results: During the non-COVID-19 period, 592 (7.8%) out of 7602 cases were malignant; in the COVID-19 period, 439 (11.3%) out of 3899 cases were malignant. However, the total percentages of malignant cases were significantly increased during the COVID-19 period when compared with non-COVID-19 period (p < .001) despite the reduction in the case numbers. When the pre- and post-pandemic periods were compared, a statistically significant difference was found between the number of cases diagnosed with both SCC and BCC (both p < .001). However, for MM, there was no significance (p = .656).Conclusions: Even in pandemics conditions clinicians and pathologists, who are interested in dermatological lesions, should be aware and sensitive about dermatological malignancies. It is also important to raise awareness of the public with more sensitive health policies because any delay during the diagnosis and treatment period may cause fatal consequences or permanent damages for the patients. Keywords: Dermatopathology, COVID-19, Malignant melanoma, Basal cell carcinoma, Squamous cell carcinoma