The effect of COVID-19: Adopted changes and their impact on management of musculoskeletal oncology care at a tertiary referral centre

BACKGROUND: COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted access to healthcare. Delay in diagnosis and onset of care increases cancer related mortality. We aim to analyse its impact on patient profile, hospital visits, morbidity in surgically treated patients and process outcomes. METHODS: We analysed an ambi-directional cohort from 16th March to June 30, 2020 (Pandemic cohort, PC) as compared to 2019 (Pre-pandemic cohort, PPC). We measured, new patient registrations, proportion of ‘within state’ patients vs ‘rest of India’, median time to treatment decision, proportion of patients seeking ‘second opinions’, modality of initial treatment (surgery/radiotherapy/chemotherapy), 30-day post-operative morbidity/mortality and conversion of inpatient-to ‘teleconsult’ in the PC. RESULTS: Between the 2 cohorts, new registrations declined from 235 to 69 (70% reduction). The percentage of ‘within state’ patients increased from 41.7% to 53.6% (11.9% increase). There was a decline in second opinion consults from 25% to 16%. The median time to decision-making decreased to 16 days in PC vs 20 days in PPC (20% reduction). Surgery was the first line of treatment in 40% as compared to 34% in the PPC with a mean time to surgery of 24 days in PC compared to 36 days in PPC (33% reduction). 66 surgeries were performed in the PC compared to 132 in the PPC. Thirty day post operative morbidity needing readmission remained similar (18% PC, vs 17% PPC). Perioperative intensive care remained similar in both cohorts. Teleconsultation was deemed medically safe in 92.8% (439/473 patients). CONCLUSIONS: The COVID 19 pandemic has substantially reduced access and onset to cancer care. Post operative morbidity and mortality did not seem to worsen with triage. Teleconsultation is an effective tool in optimizing follow up strategy.