Management of the Two-Week Wait Pathway for Skin Cancer Patients, before and during the Pandemic: Is Virtual Consultation an Option?
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Materials and Methods
2.1. Study Design
2.2. Inclusion Criteria
2.3. Exclusion Criteria
2.4. Statistical Analysis
3. Results
3.1. Patient Population
3.2. Baseline Characteristics
4. Discussion
4.1. Rationale for the Study
4.2. Added Value to the Literature
4.3. Comparison with Other Studies
4.4. Limitations of the Study
5. Conclusions
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Acknowledgments
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Characteristics | Value |
---|---|
Number (%) | 1943 (100%) |
Age at diagnosis, yo, mean ± SD (95% CI) | 61.9 ± 18.3 |
Female gender, n (%) | 1045 (53.8%) |
Time to first being seen (days), median (IQR) | 12 (6) |
Total skin malignant/premalignant lesions, n (%) | 513 (26.4%) |
Skin primary malignancies (SCC, MM, BCC,), n (%) | 451 (23.2%) |
SCC, n (%) | 150 (7.7%) |
MM, n (%) | 54 (2.8%) |
BCC, n (%) | 247 (12.7%) |
Metastases and other secondary malignancies, n (%) | 10 (0.5%) |
Premalignant conditions (Bowen’s disease/lentigo maligna), n (%) | 52 (2.7%) |
Skin benign lesions, n (%) | 1430 (73.6%) |
14-day breach time, n (%) | 192 (9.9%) |
31-day breach time, n (%) | 2 (0.1%) |
62-day breach time, n (%) | 1 (0.05%) |
No lesion present at the OPA, n (%) | 27/1943 (1.3%) |
Declined the OPA, n (%) | 63/2037 (3.1%) |
Deceased prior to the OPA, n (%) | 6/2037 (0.3%) |
Duplicate referrals, n (%) | 12/2037 (0.6%) |
Incorrect referrals, n (%) | 11/2037 (0.5%) |
Unfit for the OPA, n (%) | 2/2037 (0.1%) |
Characteristic | Face-to-Face-Consultation | Virtual Video Consultation | p-Value |
---|---|---|---|
Number (%) | 988 (50.8%) | 955 (49.2%) | |
Age, years, mean ± SD (95% CI) | 62.5 ± 18.0 (61.4–63.7) | 61.2 ± 18.7 (60.0–61.5) | 0.09 |
Female gender, n (%) | 535 (54.1%) | 510 (53.4%) | 0.75 |
Time to first being seen (days), median (IQR) | 12 (5) | 12 (6) | 0.25 |
Primary skin malignancy, n (%) | 240 (24.3%) | 211 (22.1%) | 0.25 |
SCC, n (%) | 64 (6.5%) | 86 (9%) | 0.04 |
MM, n (%) | 33 (3.3%) | 21 (2.2%) | 0.13 |
BCC, n (%) | 143 (14.5%) | 104 (10.9%) | 0.02 |
Metastases/other malignant lesions, n (%) | 3 (0.3%) | 7 (0.7%) | 0.21 |
Premalignant lesions, n (%) | 30 (3%) | 22 (2.3%) | 0.32 |
Benign lesions, n (%) | 715 (72.4%) | 715 (74.9%) | 0.21 |
14-day breach time, n (%) | 86 (8.7%) | 106 (11.1%) | 0.08 |
31-day breach time, n (%) | 1 (0.1%) | 1 (0.1%) | 1 |
62-day breach time, n (%) | 1 (0.1%) | 0 (0%) | 1 |
Excluded from the study, n (%) | 43/2037 (4.2%) | 51/2037 (5.1%) | 0.34 |
Deceased prior to the OPA, n (%) | 3/1031 (0.3%) | 3/1006 (0.3%) | 1 |
Declined the OPA, n (%) | 34/1031 (3.3%) | 29/1006 (2.9%) | 0.61 |
Incorrect referral, n (%) | 2/1031 (0.2%) | 9/1006 (0.9%) | 0.03 |
Duplication, n (%) | 3/1031 (0.3%) | 9/1006 (0.9%) | 0.09 |
Unfit for the OPA, n (%) | 1/1031 (0.1%) | 1/1006 (0.1%) | 1 |
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Chiru, M.-R.; Hindocha, S.; Burova, E.; Bejan, G.-C.; Manea, L.-M.; Ghilencea, L.-N. Management of the Two-Week Wait Pathway for Skin Cancer Patients, before and during the Pandemic: Is Virtual Consultation an Option? J. Pers. Med. 2022, 12, 1258. https://doi.org/10.3390/jpm12081258
Chiru M-R, Hindocha S, Burova E, Bejan G-C, Manea L-M, Ghilencea L-N. Management of the Two-Week Wait Pathway for Skin Cancer Patients, before and during the Pandemic: Is Virtual Consultation an Option? Journal of Personalized Medicine. 2022; 12(8):1258. https://doi.org/10.3390/jpm12081258
Chicago/Turabian StyleChiru, Maria-Roxana, Sandip Hindocha, Ekaterina Burova, Gabriel-Cristian Bejan, Laura-Maria Manea, and Liviu-Nicolae Ghilencea. 2022. "Management of the Two-Week Wait Pathway for Skin Cancer Patients, before and during the Pandemic: Is Virtual Consultation an Option?" Journal of Personalized Medicine 12, no. 8: 1258. https://doi.org/10.3390/jpm12081258