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Head and neck cancer presentations in the emergency department during the COVID-19 pandemic

Introduction It is not uncommon to note patients with painful orofacial lesions presenting via the emergency department to the on-call team. However, during the COVID-19 pandemic, we saw a surge in these attendances, prompting a review of our emergency database. Methods The maxillofacial emergency d...

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Autores principales: Stringer, Harriet, Mohammad, Noor, Mumtaz, Shadaab, Komath, Deepak
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Nature Publishing Group UK 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9362537/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35931751
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41415-022-4505-2
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author Stringer, Harriet
Mohammad, Noor
Mumtaz, Shadaab
Komath, Deepak
author_facet Stringer, Harriet
Mohammad, Noor
Mumtaz, Shadaab
Komath, Deepak
author_sort Stringer, Harriet
collection PubMed
description Introduction It is not uncommon to note patients with painful orofacial lesions presenting via the emergency department to the on-call team. However, during the COVID-19 pandemic, we saw a surge in these attendances, prompting a review of our emergency database. Methods The maxillofacial emergency database was retrospectively reviewed in the period between March 2020 and October 2021 (19 months). Data including relevant variables were collected in a standard spreadsheet database and analysed by two clinicians. Results Between March 2020 and October 2021, 34 patients attended with oral ulceration and non-odontogenic neck swellings, out of which nine patients had subsequent diagnosis of oral/oropharyngeal cancer (mean age: 64.2 years). All patients were grouped as stage IV cancers and only one patient was deemed suitable for ablative surgery, which is the primary mode of treatment in oral cancers. Three patients were deemed to have progressive/recurrent disease despite active treatment and two patients unfortunately passed away due to the disease. Conclusion The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on head and neck cancer diagnoses and management suffered significantly. We present our experience dealing with this vulnerable cohort in the emergency department and their subsequent journey.
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spelling pubmed-93625372022-08-10 Head and neck cancer presentations in the emergency department during the COVID-19 pandemic Stringer, Harriet Mohammad, Noor Mumtaz, Shadaab Komath, Deepak Br Dent J Research Introduction It is not uncommon to note patients with painful orofacial lesions presenting via the emergency department to the on-call team. However, during the COVID-19 pandemic, we saw a surge in these attendances, prompting a review of our emergency database. Methods The maxillofacial emergency database was retrospectively reviewed in the period between March 2020 and October 2021 (19 months). Data including relevant variables were collected in a standard spreadsheet database and analysed by two clinicians. Results Between March 2020 and October 2021, 34 patients attended with oral ulceration and non-odontogenic neck swellings, out of which nine patients had subsequent diagnosis of oral/oropharyngeal cancer (mean age: 64.2 years). All patients were grouped as stage IV cancers and only one patient was deemed suitable for ablative surgery, which is the primary mode of treatment in oral cancers. Three patients were deemed to have progressive/recurrent disease despite active treatment and two patients unfortunately passed away due to the disease. Conclusion The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on head and neck cancer diagnoses and management suffered significantly. We present our experience dealing with this vulnerable cohort in the emergency department and their subsequent journey. Nature Publishing Group UK 2022-08-05 /pmc/articles/PMC9362537/ /pubmed/35931751 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41415-022-4505-2 Text en © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to the British Dental Association 2022 This article is made available via the PMC Open Access Subset for unrestricted research re-use and secondary analysis in any form or by any means with acknowledgement of the original source. These permissions are granted for the duration of the World Health Organization (WHO) declaration of COVID-19 as a global pandemic.
spellingShingle Research
Stringer, Harriet
Mohammad, Noor
Mumtaz, Shadaab
Komath, Deepak
Head and neck cancer presentations in the emergency department during the COVID-19 pandemic
title Head and neck cancer presentations in the emergency department during the COVID-19 pandemic
title_full Head and neck cancer presentations in the emergency department during the COVID-19 pandemic
title_fullStr Head and neck cancer presentations in the emergency department during the COVID-19 pandemic
title_full_unstemmed Head and neck cancer presentations in the emergency department during the COVID-19 pandemic
title_short Head and neck cancer presentations in the emergency department during the COVID-19 pandemic
title_sort head and neck cancer presentations in the emergency department during the covid-19 pandemic
topic Research
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9362537/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35931751
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41415-022-4505-2
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