COVID-19大流行改变了世界各地的医疗保健系统。医务人员集中于传染病管理和非急诊疾病的治疗,安排的手术被推迟。我们的目的是调查韩国COVID-19爆发前后甲状腺癌严重程度的变化。我们收集了在韩国一所大学医院接受甲状腺手术的患者的三年数据(2019年,2020年和2021年),并将其分组为“在COVID-19之前”,“COVID-19后1年”和“COVID-19后2年”。COVID-19爆发后,新患者(1303、939和1098名患者)和随访患者(5584、4609和4739名患者)的年度门诊病人总数均显着下降。临床特征,包括年龄,性别,BMI,术前细胞学结果,手术范围,和最终的病理诊断,在COVID-19爆发后没有明显变化。然而,从首次就诊到手术的天数显着增加(38.3±32.2,58.3±105.2,47.8±124.7天,p=0.027)。甲状腺乳头状癌(PTC)患者甲状腺外延伸比例增加,淋巴侵入,血管浸润,和颈淋巴结转移。滤泡性肿瘤患者肿瘤大小增加(3.5±2.2,4.0±1.9,4.3±2.3cm,p=0.019)。在COVID-19爆发后,甲状腺癌不良预后因素增加,并且观察到滤泡性肿瘤的大小增加。由于我们的研究仅限于仁川市的一所高等教育机构,韩国,应要求进行包括初级诊所在内的全国性研究,以确定COVID-19对甲状腺疾病治疗的实际影响.
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.