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Impact of SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic on the Diagnosis of Cervical Cancer and Precursor Lesions—A Single-Center Retrospective Study
oleh: Lavinia Balan, Cristina Secosan, Virgiliu-Bogdan Sorop, Marilena Pirtea, Anca Maria Cimpean, Daniela Chiriac, Catalin Balan, Ema Borsi, Ariana Iorga, Laurentiu Pirtea
Format: | Article |
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Diterbitkan: | MDPI AG 2024-05-01 |
Deskripsi
<i>Background and Objectives</i>: Our aim was to perform a retrospective analysis of the volume of cervical screening tests, the number of patients treated with an excision method, and the incidence of invasive and non-invasive cervical during a pandemic and pre-pandemic period of 24 months. <i>Materials and Methods</i>: The study compared 404 patients who underwent cervical cone biopsy for cervical cancer. The study examined patients’ specimens based on histopathological characteristics and categorized cervical lesions based on pap smear. <i>Results</i>: There was a statistically significant age difference between the two study periods. The mean difference was 32 years before the pandemic and 35 years during the pandemic (<i>p</i>-value > 0.05). The biggest patient loss ratio identified by age group was in the 50–59-year group, with a 14.53% loss in the pre-pandemic period and a 9.1% loss in the pandemic period. In the pandemic period, patients from rural areas presented in the clinical trial with a lower rate of 39.52% (83 patients) vs. 60.47% (127 patients) in urban areas. A higher percentage of patients experiencing cervicorrhagia as a clinical manifestation in the pandemic period vs. the pre-pandemic period, with an increase in more severe lesions in the pandemic period, had a statistical significance of 8% more newly diagnosed compared to the pre-pandemic period. <i>Conclusions</i>: The addressability of the patients during the COVID period was not affected in a drastic way in our study. We encountered a decrease in appointments in the age group of 50–59 years and a decrease in patients with rural residence. In our study, we found an increase in cervical bleeding as a reason for consultation in the pandemic period with a higher lesion degree, both on a pap smear and on a cervical biopsy.