Virtual melanoma checks during a pandemic

Janda, Monika; Swetter, Susan M.; Horsham, Caitlin; Soyer, H. Peter

doi:10.1111/bjd.19255

Cited by 13 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 5 publications

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“…18 During the COVID pandemic, an Australian randomised study showed the usefulness of teledermatoscopy managed directly by trained patients, who sent images of suspected lesions straight to the dermatological reference centre, reporting a sensitivity higher than 75% and a specificity above 87%. 19 In Italy, the Istituto Superiore di Sanità strongly recommended during the COVID emergency to strengthen the implementation of telemedicine services. Telemedicine can turn to be very useful for both providing health services and for monitoring people in quarantine, including those with chronic disease as invasive melanoma, who need continuity of care.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The effect of COVID-19 emergency in the management of melanoma in Italy

Italiano¹

2021

Dermatol Reports

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The COVID-19 pandemic has severely hampered the functioning of any health system, absorbing a considerable amount of resources and with the threat of widespread infection in the health services. The present survey has been carried out in Italy to evaluate if and how COVID-19 also affected skin melanoma management. We enrolled 13 Italian centres highly qualified in the diagnosis and care of skin melanoma. We compared a set of information evaluating the amount of activity for melanoma performed during February-April 2020 with the same quarter in 2019. The number of new melanoma diagnosis, biopsies, wide local excisions, overall pathology reports decreased. However, the most severe cases seem promptly managed with sentinel lymph node biopsies, new systemic treatments (north) and the total number of (advanced) treated patients (centre-south). The COVID-19 experience has underlined the need to exploit the help which may come from telemedicine.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The effect of COVID-19 emergency in the management of melanoma in Italy

Italiano¹

2021

Dermatol Reports

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“…For patients, they would be required teledermoscopy, this will add further costs or equipment, which will need to be addressed. To render an accurate diagnosis using teledermatology and teledermatoscopy, a standardized guide for patients to obtain high‐quality macroscopic and dermatoscopic images should be provided 14 . In a recent randomized controlled trial comparing patients using self‐skin examination with or without a mobile dermoscope at home, both groups had a high level of sensitivity (>75%) and specificity (>87%) in identifying suspicious lesions.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Melanoma and COVID ‐19: A narrative review focused on treatment

Elmas

Demirbaş

Düzayak

et al. 2020

Dermatologic Therapy

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Melanoma is the most severe form of skin cancer and its incidence has increased over the past few decades. COVID-19 pandemic affected the diagnosis and management of many diseases including melanoma. In this study, we aimed to provide a review focused on the diagnosis and management of melanoma in the era of COVID-19. A comprehensive search was conducted on PubMed, Web of Science, and Google Scholar databases using the keywords "melanoma," "coronavirus," "COVID 19," and "SARS-CoV-2." The relevant guidelines published by the European Society for Medical Oncology and the National Comprehensive Cancer Network were also included. The current guidelines recommend that surgical interventions for new diagnosis of invasive primary melanoma, patients with postoperative complications, wide resection and sentinel lymph node biopsy for newly diagnosed T3-T4 melanoma, and planned surgical procedures for patients in neo-adjuvant trials should be prioritized. Surgical treatment of T3/T4 melanomas should be prioritized over T1/T2 melanomas except for any melanoma in which large clinical residual lesion is visible. Adjuvant therapies can be postponed for up to 12 weeks depending on the local center circumstances. PD-1 inhibitor monotherapy is recommended for patients starting immunologic therapy. Combination immunotherapy is still considered suitable for patients with higher-risk disease. Encorafenib and binimetinib should be prioritized for patients requiring BRAF-targeted therapy due to the lower chance of symptoms mimicking COVID-19 infection.

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“…Telemedicine also eliminates the risk of contagion for dermatologists and other healthcare workers. 10 In this context, technological diagnostic strategies such as telemedicine, that has already confirmed its value before and during this pandemic scenario, could represent a new possible support for dermato-oncologists. 11,12…”

Section: Commentmentioning

confidence: 98%

Impact of delay in follow‐up due to COVID‐19 pandemic on skin cancer progression: a real‐life experience from an Italian hub hospital

et al. 2021

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Background The COVID‐19 pandemic required the setting of a national lockdown in Italy from March 9, 2020, until May 18, 2020; therefore, most of the non‐COVID‐19 activities were postponed. As a consequence, many follow‐up visits in patients with previously excised skin cancers were delayed. The aim of this retrospective real‐life case–control study is demonstrating that delay in follow‐up led to an increased incidence of advanced melanoma and keratinocyte cancers on the total of surgically excised skin cancers. Methods The incidence of excised advanced melanoma and keratinocyte cancers in our dermato‐surgery division in the period May 18 to November 18, 2020, was compared to the same time span of 2019. All data were collected from the electronic database of our department. Odds ratio with 95% confidence interval was used to assess the risk of excised advanced skin cancers in 2020 compared to 2019. Results From May to November 2019, we performed 265 surgical excisions, while during the pandemic in 2020, we completed 280 surgeries. The number of advanced skin cancers excised between May 18 and November 18, 2020, was significantly higher compared with the same period in 2019 (54 vs. 22, OR: 2.64; 95% CI: 1.56–4.47; P = 0.0003). Significant differences were also observed regarding the number of surgically removed advanced BCCs (OR 2.15; 95% CI 1.14–4.07; P = 0.0187) and advanced SCCs (OR 4.60; 95% CI 1.31–16.18; P = 0.0175). Conclusion These results confirm that delay in follow‐up and, consequently, postponed surgical excisions are related to an increased incidence of advanced skin tumors, resulting in poorer prognosis lifelong. Follow‐up visits should be carried on even during COVID‐19 pandemic, avoiding significant delays as much as possible.

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Virtual melanoma checks during a pandemic

Cited by 13 publications

References 5 publications

The effect of COVID-19 emergency in the management of melanoma in Italy

The effect of COVID-19 emergency in the management of melanoma in Italy

Melanoma and COVID ‐19: A narrative review focused on treatment

Impact of delay in follow‐up due to COVID‐19 pandemic on skin cancer progression: a real‐life experience from an Italian hub hospital

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