Indirect Impact of Pandemic on the Diagnosis of New Primary Melanoma: A Retrospective, Multicenter Study

Nespoli, Luca; Borgognoni, Lorenzo; Caliendo, Virginia; Piazzalunga, Dario; Rossi, Piero; Clementi, Marco; Guadagni, Stefano; Caracò, Corrado; Sestini, Serena; Valente, Maria Gabriella; Picciotto, Franco; Di Raimondo, Cosimo; Ferrari, Davide; Tucceri Cimini, Irene; Giarrizzo, Amy; Asero, Salvatore; Mascherini, Matteo; De Cian, Franco; Russano, Francesco; Del Fiore, Paolo; Cavallin, Francesco; Coppola, Sara; Pennacchioli, Elisabetta; Gallina, Pietro; Rastrelli, Marco

doi:10.3390/jcm14062017

Open AccessArticle

Indirect Impact of Pandemic on the Diagnosis of New Primary Melanoma: A Retrospective, Multicenter Study

by

Luca Nespoli

^1,†

,

Lorenzo Borgognoni

^2,†,

Virginia Caliendo

³,

Dario Piazzalunga

⁴,

Piero Rossi

⁵,

Marco Clementi

⁶

,

Stefano Guadagni

⁶

,

Corrado Caracò

⁷,

Serena Sestini

²,

Maria Gabriella Valente

⁸,

Franco Picciotto

³,

Cosimo Di Raimondo

⁹

,

Davide Ferrari

⁴

,

Irene Tucceri Cimini

⁶

,

Amy Giarrizzo

¹⁰,

Salvatore Asero

¹⁰

,

Matteo Mascherini

^11,12,

Franco De Cian

^11,12,

Francesco Russano

¹³,

Paolo Del Fiore

^13,*

,

Francesco Cavallin

¹⁴

,

Sara Coppola

¹⁵,

Elisabetta Pennacchioli

¹⁵,

Pietro Gallina

^16,‡

and

Marco Rastrelli

^13,17,‡,§ on behalf of SICO (Italian Society of Oncological Surgery) Study Group Show full author list Hide full author list

¹

General and Emergency Surgery, School of Medicine and Surgery, Milano-Bicocca University, Fondazione IRCCS San Gerardo dei Tintori, Via Pergolesi 33, 20900 Monza, Italy

²

Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Unit, Regional Melanoma Referral Center and Melanoma & Skin Cancer Unit, Santa Maria Annunziata Hospital, 50012 Florence, Italy

³

Department of Surgery, Dermatologic Surgery Section, Azienda Ospedaliera Universitaria (AOU) Città della Salute e della Scienza, 10126 Turin, Italy

⁴

Unit of Surgery, Papa Giovanni XXIII Hospital, 24100 Bergamo, Italy

⁵

Dipartimento Di Scienze Chirurgiche, Università di Roma Tor Vergata, Policlinico Tor Vergata Viale Oxford 81, 00133 Rome, Italy

⁶

General Surgical Unit, Department of Biotechnological and Applied Clinical Sciences, University of L’Aquila, Via Vetoio, 67100, L’Aquila, Italy

⁷

Division of Surgery of Melanoma and Skin Cancer, Istituto Nazionale Tumori ‘Fondazione Pascale’ IRCCS, 80131 Naples, Italy

⁸

Unità di Anatomia Patologica, Fondazione IRCCS San Gerardo dei Tintori, 20900 Monza, Italy

⁹

Dermatology Unit, Fondazione Policlinico Tor Vergata, 00133 Rome, Italy

¹⁰

Soft Tissue U.O. Surgical Oncology-Soft Tissue Tumors, Dipartimento di Oncologia, Azienda Ospedaliera di Rilievo Nazionale e di Alta Specializzazione Garibaldi Catania, 95123 Catania, Italy

¹¹

Department of Surgical Sciences and Integrated Diagnostic DISC, University of Genoa, 16100 Genoa, Italy

¹²

Department of Surgery, IRCCS Ospedale Policlinico San Martino, 16132 Genoa, Italy

¹³

Soft-Tissue, Peritoneum and Melanoma Surgical Oncology Unit, Veneto Institute of Oncology IOV-IRCCS, 35128 Padova, Italy

¹⁴

Independent Statistician, 36020 Solagna, Italy

¹⁵

Division of Melanoma, Soft Tissue Sarcomas and Rare Tumors, European Institute of Oncology, IRCCS, 20141 Milan, Italy

¹⁶

Directorate General, Veneto Institute of Oncology IOV-IRCCS, 35128 Padua, Italy

¹⁷

Department of Surgery, Oncology and Gastroenterology (DISCOG), University of Padua, 35122 Padova, Italy

Show full affiliation list

Hide full affiliation list

^*

Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

^†

These authors contributed equally to the work.

^‡

These authors share senior authorship.

^§

SICO Study group members are included in the Acknowledgements section.

J. Clin. Med. 2025, 14(6), 2017; https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm14062017

Submission received: 13 January 2025 / Revised: 4 March 2025 / Accepted: 10 March 2025 / Published: 16 March 2025

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Clinical Consequences of COVID-19: 2nd Edition)

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Abstract

Background/Objectives: The indirect impact of the pandemic on the diagnosis and treatment of new primary melanoma has been carefully evaluated in recent years. The aim of the present study was to investigate if the indirect impact of the pandemic in Italy could be detectable also in the second year of the pandemic, as suggested by the characteristics of melanoma at diagnosis. Methods: Retrospective analysis of 1640 diagnoses of cutaneous melanoma in pre-pandemic period and 1292 diagnoses in the pandemic period from 10 centers (from 1 March 2019 to 28 February 2022). Results: Our findings confirmed an indirect impact of the pandemic on characteristics of incident melanoma, also in the second year of the pandemic in Italy (Breslow thickness p < 0.0001, tumor stage p = 0.002, ulceration p = 0.04, SNLB p = 0.03), without statistically significant differences between centers. A statistically significant reduction in the time interval from diagnosis to surgical treatment was observed, but only in centers that had to modify their case mix to address the needs of treating COVID-19 patients (p = 0.0002). Conclusions: Our study confirmed the indirect impact of the pandemic on melanoma characteristics at the diagnosis in the second year of the pandemic in Italy. We also found no differences in melanoma characteristics between hospitals with different organization. Diagnostic delays may be related to a delayed access of the patient to the entire diagnostic pathway, and therefore, especially in the case of a pandemic, policies to support early diagnosis are crucial.

Keywords: melanoma; impact of pandemic; multicenter study

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MDPI and ACS Style

Nespoli, L.; Borgognoni, L.; Caliendo, V.; Piazzalunga, D.; Rossi, P.; Clementi, M.; Guadagni, S.; Caracò, C.; Sestini, S.; Valente, M.G.; et al. Indirect Impact of Pandemic on the Diagnosis of New Primary Melanoma: A Retrospective, Multicenter Study. J. Clin. Med. 2025, 14, 2017. https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm14062017

AMA Style

Nespoli L, Borgognoni L, Caliendo V, Piazzalunga D, Rossi P, Clementi M, Guadagni S, Caracò C, Sestini S, Valente MG, et al. Indirect Impact of Pandemic on the Diagnosis of New Primary Melanoma: A Retrospective, Multicenter Study. Journal of Clinical Medicine. 2025; 14(6):2017. https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm14062017

Chicago/Turabian Style

Nespoli, Luca, Lorenzo Borgognoni, Virginia Caliendo, Dario Piazzalunga, Piero Rossi, Marco Clementi, Stefano Guadagni, Corrado Caracò, Serena Sestini, Maria Gabriella Valente, and et al. 2025. "Indirect Impact of Pandemic on the Diagnosis of New Primary Melanoma: A Retrospective, Multicenter Study" Journal of Clinical Medicine 14, no. 6: 2017. https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm14062017

APA Style

Nespoli, L., Borgognoni, L., Caliendo, V., Piazzalunga, D., Rossi, P., Clementi, M., Guadagni, S., Caracò, C., Sestini, S., Valente, M. G., Picciotto, F., Di Raimondo, C., Ferrari, D., Tucceri Cimini, I., Giarrizzo, A., Asero, S., Mascherini, M., De Cian, F., Russano, F., ... Rastrelli, M., on behalf of SICO (Italian Society of Oncological Surgery) Study Group. (2025). Indirect Impact of Pandemic on the Diagnosis of New Primary Melanoma: A Retrospective, Multicenter Study. Journal of Clinical Medicine, 14(6), 2017. https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm14062017

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Indirect Impact of Pandemic on the Diagnosis of New Primary Melanoma: A Retrospective, Multicenter Study

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