Retrospective Observational Study on the Dynamics of Surgical Treatment of Colon Cancer before and during the COVID 19 Pandemic. The Experience of a Small Center

Abstract

In March 2020, the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic. The main purpose of this retrospective observational study is to highlight the diagnostic changes in the dynamics of surgical treatment of patients with colon cancer, hospitalized on Surgery I Department of Brasov County Emergency Clinical Hospital in the first year of the pandemic. A number of 129 patients diagnosed and surgically treated for colon cancer in the Surgery I Department of Brașov County Emergency Clinical Hospital between March 1, 2019 and February 29, 2021 were included in the study. Later, the patients were divided into two groups, the first group includes patients diagnosed and treated for colon cancer one year before the pandemic and the second group, patients treated surgically in the first year of the pandemic. Several characteristics of the two groups were analyzed. We report a decrease in the number of cases in the first year of the pandemic due to restrictions and a decrease in early diagnosis, as well as a decrease in the number of laparoscopic approaches, an increase in the length of hospital stays during the pandemic and an increase in the percentage of perioperative deaths in Group 2. The limitations of the study are represented by the small number of patients as well as by the evaluation of the experience of a single Section from a single Center that does not allow the generalization of the results.