Effect of COVID-19 Epidemic on Delay of Diagnosis and Treatment Path for Patients with Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma

Introduction: 2019 novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreaks have been occurring in China and other countries in the world. To prevent further spread of the disease, restrictions of population flow from the government and measures to reduce virus transmission from hospitals may lead to the delay of diagnosis and treatment in patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC).

Methods: All NPC patients with radiotherapy indications were included from 20 weekdays before (group A) and after (group B) January 31, 2020, when the institute began to take measures against COVID-19. The waiting intervals of each step and variation from the diagnosis and treatment path of NPC between two groups were compared.

Results: Significant differences were found between the group A and group B in the median waiting days for pathological biopsy (5 vs 15, =0.012), radiotherapy immobilization and simulation (3.5 vs 16.5, <0.001), validation of position and plan (20 vs 61, <0.001) and initiation of radiotherapy (28 vs 36, =0.005). During the waiting period of radiotherapy, 32.4% of the NPC patients received an additional one cycle of chemotherapy to the original treatment strategy.

Conclusion: The prevalence of COVID-19 caused delay in the diagnosis and treatment of NPC patients to a certain extent. Additional chemotherapy could be considered to counteract the effect of treatment delay. More specific measures should be taken to balance the risk of delayed diagnosis and treatment of NPC and infection of COVID-19.