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Thoracic Surgeon Impressions of the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Lung Cancer Care—Lessons from the First Wave in Canada

Background: COVID-19 has invariably changed the way lung cancer surgical care is provided in Canada. Despite relevant management guidelines, the way in which cancer care has been affected has yet to be described for thoracic surgical populations. Routine lung cancer physiologic and staging assessmen...

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Autores principales: Hilzenrat, Roy A., Deen, Shaun A., Yee, John, Grant, Kyle A., Ashrafi, Ahmad S., Coughlin, Shaun, McGuire, Anna L.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7985774/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33617510
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/curroncol28010092
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author Hilzenrat, Roy A.
Deen, Shaun A.
Yee, John
Grant, Kyle A.
Ashrafi, Ahmad S.
Coughlin, Shaun
McGuire, Anna L.
author_facet Hilzenrat, Roy A.
Deen, Shaun A.
Yee, John
Grant, Kyle A.
Ashrafi, Ahmad S.
Coughlin, Shaun
McGuire, Anna L.
author_sort Hilzenrat, Roy A.
collection PubMed
description Background: COVID-19 has invariably changed the way lung cancer surgical care is provided in Canada. Despite relevant management guidelines, the way in which cancer care has been affected has yet to be described for thoracic surgical populations. Routine lung cancer physiologic and staging assessments are unique in that they are droplet producing and aerosolizing procedures. Our objective was to quantify the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on surgical lung cancer care as perceived by practicing thoracic surgeons during the first wave of the pandemic in Canada. Methods: An electronic survey was distributed to members of the Canadian Association of Thoracic Surgeons. The survey was designed to determine surgeon perception of lung cancer preoperative care during the Canadian pandemic-instilled period of resource reallocation compared to standard care. Planned analyses were exploratory in nature; with count and frequency distributions of responses quantified. Results: Fifty-three thoracic surgeons completed the survey. Responses were collected from all Canadian provinces. Little change in access to preoperative imaging was noted. However, a significant decrease in access to lung function and bronchoscopy testing occurred. Pulmonary surgery was perceived to be lengthier with reduced operating theater availability. Despite decreased OR access, only 40% of surgeons were aware of respective institutional mitigation strategies. Summary: The COVID-19 pandemic has had an impact on standard lung cancer care preoperative workup. Further inquiry using institutional data is warranted to quantify its impact on cancer patient outcomes. Assessing the extent and effects of newly present barriers to standard lung cancer care is essential in forming appropriate mitigation strategies and planning for future pandemic waves.
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spelling pubmed-79857742021-03-24 Thoracic Surgeon Impressions of the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Lung Cancer Care—Lessons from the First Wave in Canada Hilzenrat, Roy A. Deen, Shaun A. Yee, John Grant, Kyle A. Ashrafi, Ahmad S. Coughlin, Shaun McGuire, Anna L. Curr Oncol Article Background: COVID-19 has invariably changed the way lung cancer surgical care is provided in Canada. Despite relevant management guidelines, the way in which cancer care has been affected has yet to be described for thoracic surgical populations. Routine lung cancer physiologic and staging assessments are unique in that they are droplet producing and aerosolizing procedures. Our objective was to quantify the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on surgical lung cancer care as perceived by practicing thoracic surgeons during the first wave of the pandemic in Canada. Methods: An electronic survey was distributed to members of the Canadian Association of Thoracic Surgeons. The survey was designed to determine surgeon perception of lung cancer preoperative care during the Canadian pandemic-instilled period of resource reallocation compared to standard care. Planned analyses were exploratory in nature; with count and frequency distributions of responses quantified. Results: Fifty-three thoracic surgeons completed the survey. Responses were collected from all Canadian provinces. Little change in access to preoperative imaging was noted. However, a significant decrease in access to lung function and bronchoscopy testing occurred. Pulmonary surgery was perceived to be lengthier with reduced operating theater availability. Despite decreased OR access, only 40% of surgeons were aware of respective institutional mitigation strategies. Summary: The COVID-19 pandemic has had an impact on standard lung cancer care preoperative workup. Further inquiry using institutional data is warranted to quantify its impact on cancer patient outcomes. Assessing the extent and effects of newly present barriers to standard lung cancer care is essential in forming appropriate mitigation strategies and planning for future pandemic waves. MDPI 2021-02-18 /pmc/articles/PMC7985774/ /pubmed/33617510 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/curroncol28010092 Text en © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Hilzenrat, Roy A.
Deen, Shaun A.
Yee, John
Grant, Kyle A.
Ashrafi, Ahmad S.
Coughlin, Shaun
McGuire, Anna L.
Thoracic Surgeon Impressions of the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Lung Cancer Care—Lessons from the First Wave in Canada
title Thoracic Surgeon Impressions of the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Lung Cancer Care—Lessons from the First Wave in Canada
title_full Thoracic Surgeon Impressions of the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Lung Cancer Care—Lessons from the First Wave in Canada
title_fullStr Thoracic Surgeon Impressions of the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Lung Cancer Care—Lessons from the First Wave in Canada
title_full_unstemmed Thoracic Surgeon Impressions of the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Lung Cancer Care—Lessons from the First Wave in Canada
title_short Thoracic Surgeon Impressions of the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Lung Cancer Care—Lessons from the First Wave in Canada
title_sort thoracic surgeon impressions of the impact of the covid-19 pandemic on lung cancer care—lessons from the first wave in canada
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7985774/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33617510
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/curroncol28010092
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