No delay in the start of therapy for head and neck tumor patients in the COVID-19 pandemic – evaluation using the example of oropharyngeal carcinoma

Introduction Fear of physician visits, fewer screenings, resource reduction and resource shifting in the clinic due to the care of corona patients may have led to a delay between initial contact with a patient and therapy initiation since 2020. This study shows that there has been no delay in therapy initiation due to resource optimization, content restructuring and organization. This is illustrated by the example of patients with initial diagnosis of oropharyngeal carcinoma.

Method The key points of initial telephone contact by patient/referrer, initial presentation at the clinic and diagnosis by panendoscopy were used for the evaluation. Primary cases of oropharyngeal carcinoma at our head and neck tumor center in 2018 (n=43) and 2019 (n=31) were compared with the pandemic years 2020 (n=43) and 2021 (n=45).

Results A median wait time from first contact to first presentation at the clinic of 5.4 days was seen in the pandemic years compared to 6.2 days before the start of the pandemic reduction. There was also no significant increase in waiting time between initial presentation to the clinic and surgical diagnosis.

Conclusion Although there was a significant reduction in clinic attendance with the onset of the pandemic, there was no significant increase in waiting time between initial contact and initiation of therapy for patients with oropharyngeal cancer. Explanations for this include a successful restructuring of content, such as triage performed by physicians prior to admission to the clinic, and the establishment of a new urgency category for scheduling surgery within seven days.

Publication History

Article published online:
12 May 2023