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Collins RA, DiGennaro C, Beninato T, Gartland RM, Chaves N, Broekhuis JM, Reddy L, Lee J, Deimiller A, Alterio MM, Campbell MJ, Lee YJ, Khilnani TK, Stewart LA, O’Brien MA, Alvarado MVY, Zheng F, McAneny D, Liou R, McManus C, Dream SY, Wang TS, Yen TW, Alhefdhi A, Finnerty BM, Fahey TJ, Graves CE, Laird AM, Nehs MA, Drake FT, Lee JA, McHenry CR, James BC, Pasieka JL, Kuo JH, Lubitz CC. Limited disease progression in endocrine surgery patients with treatment delays due to COVID-19. Surgery 2023; 173:93-100. [PMID: 36210185 PMCID: PMC9420726 DOI: 10.1016/j.surg.2022.06.043] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/28/2022] [Revised: 05/31/2022] [Accepted: 06/13/2022] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND The COVID-19 pandemic profoundly impacted the delivery of care and timing of elective surgical procedures. Most endocrine-related operations were considered elective and safe to postpone, providing a unique opportunity to assess clinical outcomes under protracted treatment plans. METHODS American Association of Endocrine Surgeon members were surveyed for participation. A Research Electronic Data Capture survey was developed and distributed to 27 institutions to assess the impact of COVID-19-related delays. The information collected included patient demographics, primary diagnosis, resumption of care, and assessment of disease progression by the surgeon. RESULTS Twelve out of 27 institutions completed the survey (44.4%). Of 850 patients, 74.8% (636) were female; median age was 56 (interquartile range, 44-66) years. Forty percent (34) of patients had not been seen since their original surgical appointment was delayed; 86.2% (733) of patients had a delay in care with women more likely to have a delay (87.6% vs 82.2% of men, χ2 = 3.84, P = .05). Median duration of delay was 70 (interquartile range, 42-118) days. Among patients with a delay in care, primary disease site included thyroid (54.2%), parathyroid (37.2%), adrenal (6.5%), and pancreatic/gastrointestinal neuroendocrine tumors (1.3%). In addition, 4.0% (26) of patients experienced disease progression and 4.1% (24) had a change from the initial operative plan. The duration of delay was not associated with disease progression (P = .96) or a change in operative plan (P = .66). CONCLUSION Although some patients experienced disease progression during COVID-19 delays to endocrine disease-related care, most patients with follow-up did not. Our analysis indicated that temporary delay may be an acceptable course of action in extreme circumstances for most endocrine-related surgical disease.
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Affiliation(s)
- Reagan A. Collins
- Department of Surgery, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA,Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center School of Medicine, Lubbock, TX,Institute of Technology Assessment, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA
| | - Catherine DiGennaro
- Institute of Technology Assessment, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA
| | - Toni Beninato
- Department of Surgery, Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey, Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, New Brunswick, NJ
| | | | - Natalia Chaves
- Department of Surgery, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, MA
| | - Jordan M. Broekhuis
- Department of Surgery, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, MA,Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA
| | - Lekha Reddy
- Department of Surgery, Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey, Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, New Brunswick, NJ
| | - Jenna Lee
- Department of Surgery, Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey, Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, New Brunswick, NJ
| | | | - Maeve M. Alterio
- Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine, Washington State University, Spokane, WA
| | | | - Yeon Joo Lee
- Department of Surgery, Weill Cornell Medicine/New York-Presbyterian Hospital, New York, NY
| | | | - Latoya A. Stewart
- Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, NY
| | - Mollie A. O’Brien
- Department of Surgery, Boston Medical Center and Boston University School of Medicine, MA
| | | | - Feibi Zheng
- Department of Surgery, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX
| | - David McAneny
- Department of Surgery, Boston Medical Center and Boston University School of Medicine, MA
| | - Rachel Liou
- Section of Endocrine Surgery, Columbia University, New York, NY
| | | | - Sophie Y. Dream
- Department of Surgery, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI
| | - Tracy S. Wang
- Department of Surgery, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI
| | - Tina W. Yen
- Department of Surgery, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI
| | - Amal Alhefdhi
- Department of General Surgery, Breast and Endocrine Section, King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre, Al Mathar Ash Shamali, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
| | - Brendan M. Finnerty
- Department of Surgery, Weill Cornell Medicine/New York-Presbyterian Hospital, New York, NY
| | - Thomas J. Fahey
- Department of Surgery, Weill Cornell Medicine/New York-Presbyterian Hospital, New York, NY
| | | | - Amanda M. Laird
- Department of Surgery, Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey, Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, New Brunswick, NJ
| | - Matthew A. Nehs
- Department of Surgery, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, MA
| | | | - James A. Lee
- Section of Endocrine Surgery, Columbia University, New York, NY
| | - Christopher R. McHenry
- Department of Surgery, MetroHealth Medical Center, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH
| | - Benjamin C. James
- Department of Surgery, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, MA,Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA
| | - Janice L. Pasieka
- Department of Surgery, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada
| | - Jennifer H. Kuo
- Section of Endocrine Surgery, Columbia University, New York, NY
| | - Carrie Cunningham Lubitz
- Department of Surgery, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA,Institute of Technology Assessment, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA,Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA,Reprint requests: Carrie Cunningham Lubitz, MD, MPH, 55 Fruit Street, Boston, MA 02114
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Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Thyroid Surgery in a University Hospital in South Korea. Cancers (Basel) 2022; 14:cancers14174338. [PMID: 36077872 PMCID: PMC9454546 DOI: 10.3390/cancers14174338] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/18/2022] [Revised: 08/22/2022] [Accepted: 08/31/2022] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic has changed healthcare systems around the world. Medical personnel concentrated on infectious disease management and treatments for non-emergency diseases and scheduled surgeries were delayed. We aimed to investigate the change in the severity of thyroid cancer before and after the outbreak of COVID-19 in Korea. We collected three years of data (2019, 2020, and 2021) on patients who received thyroid surgery in a university hospital in South Korea and grouped them as "Before COVID-19", "After COVID-19 1-year" and "After COVID-19 2-years". The total number of annual outpatients declined significantly after the outbreak of COVID-19 in both new (1303, 939, and 1098 patients) and follow-up patients (5584, 4609, and 4739 patients). Clinical characteristics, including age, sex, BMI, preoperative cytology results, surgical extent, and final pathologic diagnosis, were not significantly changed after the outbreak of COVID-19. However, the number of days from the first visit to surgery was significantly increased (38.3 ± 32.2, 58.3 ± 105.2, 47.8 ± 124.7 days, p = 0.027). Papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) patients showed increased proportions of extrathyroidal extension, lymphatic invasion, vascular invasion, and cervical lymph node metastasis. Increased tumor size was observed in patients with follicular tumor (3.5 ± 2.2, 4.0 ± 1.9, 4.3 ± 2.3 cm, p = 0.019). After the COVID-19 outbreak, poor prognostic factors for thyroid cancer increased, and an increase in the size of follicular tumors was observed. Due to our study being confined to a single tertiary institution in Incheon city, Korea, nationwide studies that include primary clinics should be required to identify the actual impact of COVID-19 on thyroid disease treatment.
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The New Entity of Subacute Thyroiditis amid the COVID-19 Pandemic: From Infection to Vaccine. Diagnostics (Basel) 2022; 12:diagnostics12040960. [PMID: 35454008 PMCID: PMC9030970 DOI: 10.3390/diagnostics12040960] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/23/2022] [Revised: 04/05/2022] [Accepted: 04/08/2022] [Indexed: 02/04/2023] Open
Abstract
This is a review of full-length articles strictly concerning subacute thyroiditis (SAT) in relation to the SARS-CoV-2 virus infection (SVI) and COVID-19 vaccine (COV) that were published between the 1st of March 2020 and the 21st of March 2022 in PubMed-indexed journals. A total of 161 cases were reported as follows: 81 cases of SAT–SVI (2 retrospective studies, 5 case series, and 29 case reports), 80 respective cases of SAT–COV (1 longitudinal study, 14 case series, 17 case reports; also, 1 prospective study included 12 patients, with 6 patients in each category). To our knowledge, this represents the largest cohort of reported cases until the present time. SAT–SVI was detected in adults aged between 18 and 85 years, mostly in middle-aged females. SAT–COVID-19 timing classifies SAT as viral (synchronous with infection, which is an original feature of SATs that usually follow a viral infection) and post-viral (during the recovery period or after infection, usually within 6 to 8 weeks, up to a maximum 24 weeks). The clinical spectrum has two patterns: either that accompanying a severe COVID-19 infection with multi-organ spreading (most frequent with lung involvement) or as an asymptomatic infection, with SAT being the single manifestation or the first presentation. Either way, SAT may remain unrecognized. Some data suggest that more intense neck pain, more frequent fever, and more frequent hypothyroidism at 3 months are identified when compared with non-SAT–SVI, but other authors have identified similar presentations and outcomes. Post-COVID-19 fatigue may be due to residual post-SAT hypothyroidism. The practical importance of SAT–SVI derives from the fact that thyroid hormone anomalies aggravate the general status of severe infections (particular concerns being tachycardia/arrhythmias, cardiac insufficiency, and ischemic events). If misdiagnosed, SAT results in unnecessary treatment with anti-thyroid drugs or even antibiotics for fever of unknown cause. Once recognized, SAT does not seem to require a particular approach when compared with non-COVID-19 cases, including the need for glucocorticoid therapy and the rate of permanent hypothyroidism. A complete resolution of thyroid hormone anomalies and inflammation is expected, except for cases with persistent hypothyroidism. SAT–COV follows within a few hours to a few weeks, with an average of 2 weeks (no particular pattern is related to the first or second vaccine dose). Pathogenesis includes molecular mimicry and immunoinflammatory anomalies, and some have suggested that this is part of ASIA syndrome (autoimmune/inflammatory syndrome induced by adjuvants). An alternative hypothesis to vaccine-related increased autoimmunity is vaccine-induced hyperviscosity; however, this is supported by incomplete evidence. From what we know so far concerning the risk factors, a prior episode of non-SVI–SAT is not associated with a higher risk of SAT–COV, nor is a previous history of coronavirus infection by itself. Post-vaccine SAT usually has a less severe presentation and a good outcome. Generally, the female sex is prone to developing any type of SAT. HLA susceptibility is probably related to both new types of SATs. The current low level of statistical evidence is expected to change in the future. Practitioners should be aware of SAT–COV, which does not restrict immunization protocols in any case.
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