Impact of COVID-19 on 1-Year Survival Outcomes in Hepatocellular Carcinoma: A Multicenter Cohort Study



De Souza, Shuell, de Jong, Jeffrey Kahol, Perone, Ylenia, Shetty, Shishir, Qurashi, Maria, Vithayathil, Mathew, Shah, Tahir, Ross, Paul, Temperley, Laura, Yip, Vincent SS
et al (show 9 more authors) (2023) Impact of COVID-19 on 1-Year Survival Outcomes in Hepatocellular Carcinoma: A Multicenter Cohort Study. CANCERS, 15 (13). 3378-.

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Abstract

<h4>Introduction</h4>The COVID-19 pandemic has caused severe disruption of healthcare services worldwide and interrupted patients' access to essential services. During the first lockdown, many healthcare services were shut to all but emergencies. In this study, we aimed to determine the immediate and long-term indirect impact of COVID-19 health services utilisation on hepatocellular cancer (HCC) outcomes.<h4>Methods</h4>A prospective cohort study was conducted from 1 March 2020 until 30 June 2020, correlating to the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Patients were enrolled from tertiary hospitals in the UK and Germany with dedicated HCC management services. All patients with current or past HCC who were discussed at a multidisciplinary meeting (MDM) were identified. Any delay to treatment (DTT) and the effect on survival at one year were reported.<h4>Results</h4>The median time to receipt of therapy following MDM discussion was 49 days. Patients with Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer (BCLC) stages-A/B disease were more likely to experience DTT. Significant delays across all treatments for HCC were observed, but delay was most marked for those undergoing curative therapies. Even though severe delays were observed in curative HCC treatments, this did not translate into reduced survival in patients.<h4>Conclusion</h4>Interruption of routine healthcare services because of the COVID-19 pandemic caused severe delays in HCC treatment. However, DTT did not translate to reduced survival. Longer follow is important given the delay in therapy in those receiving curative therapy.

Item Type: Article
Uncontrolled Keywords: COVID-19, hepatocellular carcinoma, pandemic, survival, time-to-treatment, treatment
Divisions: Faculty of Health and Life Sciences
Faculty of Health and Life Sciences > Institute of Systems, Molecular and Integrative Biology
Depositing User: Symplectic Admin
Date Deposited: 31 Jan 2024 11:50
Last Modified: 31 Jan 2024 11:50
DOI: 10.3390/cancers15133378
Open Access URL: https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers15133378
Related URLs:
URI: https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3178198