Dear Editor,
We would like to share ideas on the publication “Impact of COVID-19 on presentation, staging, and treatment of head and neck mucosal squamous cell carcinoma [1].” Stevens et al. noted that “Head and neck mucosal SCC patients presented with more advanced clinical nodal disease during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic despite no change in presenting symptoms” [1]. We agree that there may be a change as a result of COVID-19. In contrast to another previous report from Europe, the current study's findings. There were fewer cancer diagnoses in that report [2] compared to the pre-COVID-19 period, which could be because malignant patients did not and could not get medical care during the COVID-19 outbreak period. Nonetheless, the rising number of cases of advanced cancer may be due to individuals' inability to obtain healthcare. Access to healthcare services may be limited in diverse locations due to varied patterns of head and neck cancer presentation among the local population.
References
- 1.Stevens M.N., Patro A., Rahman B., Gao Y., Liu D., Cmelak A., Wiggleton J., Kim Y.J., Langerman A., Mannion K., Sinard R.J., Netterville J.L., Rohde S.L., Topf M.C. Impact of COVID-19 on presentation, staging, and treatment of head and neck mucosal squamous cell carcinoma. Am J Otolaryngol. 2022 Jan-Feb;43(1) doi: 10.1016/j.amjoto.2021.103263. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 2.Schoonbeek R.C., de Jel D.V.C., van Dijk B.A.C., Willems S.M., Bloemena E., FJP Hoebers, van Meerten E., Verbist B.M., Smeele L.E., Halmos G.B., MAW Merkx, Siesling S., De Bree R., Takes R.P., Dutch Head. Neck Society. the COVID. Cancer-NL consortium Fewer head and neck cancer diagnoses and faster treatment initiation during COVID-19 in 2020: a nationwide population-based analysis. Radiother Oncol. 2021 Dec 13;S0167-8140(21) doi: 10.1016/j.radonc.2021.12.005. Online ahead of print. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]