Impact of ongoing COVID‐19 pandemic on cytology: An institutional experience

Abstract

Background The ongoing COVID‐19 pandemic has greatly impacted the health services worldwide, challenging the way modern medicine has been practiced for decades. Aim The present study documents an institutional experience on its impact on cytology services. Materials & Methods The cytology samples received during lock down period in India (24 March to 17 May 2020) were analysis and compared to the samples received during the same time frame in year 2019. Results The data revealed an overall 92.6% reduction in cytology samples received. All sample types were reduced with a statically significant reduction in thyroid cytology samples (P‐value: .023). There was relative increase in breast and lymph node samples; however, this relative increase was not statistically significant. The malignancy rate also significantly increased by 34.1% accompanied by decrease in neoplastic category among the samples received during COVID‐19 lockdown period. Breast samples remain the most frequent sample type both in pre‐COVID‐19 and COVID‐19 periods. Majority of fine‐needle aspiration done in these cases, during the lockdown period, were either in cases for recurrence or primary diagnosis. Conclusion Prioritization of samples, proper precautions and triaging of patients before procedure helped in carrying out this procedure safely.

Cytopathology practice during the COVID‐19 postlockdown: An Italian experience

“…This phenomenon is explainable by the fact that thyroid FNA, which generally falls into the category of nonurgent and elective procedures, was suspended to contain contagion. 3,5,[15][16][17] However, this trend was inverted in the later periods of the postlockdown. Indeed, in period IV, thyroid FNA practice almost returned to normal, with a workload reduction of only 27.4% in comparison with the previous year.…”

Thyroid Cancer Surgery During the COVID-2019 Pandemic: Perioperative Management and Oncological and Anatomical Considerations

“…Rana et al compared all diagnostic cytology examinations performed from March to May 2020 – the time frame of national lockdown in India – with those performed during the same interval in 2019 and found a significant decrease in thyroid cytology samples, with no FNAs of thyroid tissue performed during this period [ 22 ]. It is clear that during the pandemic the number of FNAs significantly declined [ 21 , 22 ]. Nonetheless, it is of great importance to determine whether this reduction could potentially be harmful for patients.…”

“…The selection was limited to guidelines, recommendations and both prospective and retrospective studies describing original data written in English. Out of 38 results, 14 were considered to meet the inclusion criteria [1,4,[7][8][9]18,[21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28].…”

“…The pandemic has affected many aspects of medical practice, including diagnostic procedures, surgeries and followup protocols [1,4,[7][8][9]18,[21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28]. This review found that the number of surgeries and FNAs was generally decreased.…”

“…This finding is probably a reflection of the various effects of lockdown restrictions applied in different countries at different stages of the pandemic. The differences between the articles may also be attributed to recommendations that were rushed to publication early in the pandemic and based on anecdotal previous experiences with coronaviruses, pandemics and natural disasters [8,9,15,21,22,[25][26][27]29]. However, guidelines were updated later on through expert consensus and became more specific and detailed regarding the terms under which surgeries could be postponed [1].…”