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Impact of COVID-19 on small biopsy diagnostic procedures and cancer resection surgeries in the North-West of Ireland
  1. Eoghan O'Connor1,
  2. Gerard O'Dowd2,
  3. Sine Phelan1
  1. 1 Histopathology, Galway University Hospitals, Galway, Ireland
  2. 2 Histopathology, Letterkenny University Hospital, Letterkenny, Donegal, Ireland
  1. Correspondence to Dr Eoghan O'Connor, Histopathology, Galway University Hospitals, Galway H91 YR71, Ireland; eoghan.oconnor{at}hse.ie

Abstract

Aims To quantify the impact of COVID-19 on small biopsy procedures and cancer resection surgeries in the North-West of Ireland.

Methods Data was obtained from the Histopathology Departments of University Hospital Galway (UHG) and Letterkenny University Hospital (LUH) Laboratory Information Systems to establish the impact of COVID-19 on both the small biopsy (coded P01) and cancer resection (coded P03) caseloads reported from January to June 2020, with comparison made to January to June 2019.

Results From January to June 2020 compared with January to June 2019, UHG had an overall decrease of 714 P01 cases (21.5%) and a decrease of 152 P03 cases (14.4%). In this time, LUH had an increase of 9 P01 cases (0.8%) but a decrease of 48 P03 cases (58.5%).

Conclusions There has been a significant impact on the provision of both diagnostic and therapeutic services in North-West of Ireland due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

  • COVID-19
  • pathology
  • surgical
  • pathology department
  • hospital

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Footnotes

  • Handling editor Runjan Chetty.

  • Contributors All authors were involved in the analysis and/or acquisition of data for the project, either drafting the work or revising it critically and approving the final version of the paper and agree that any questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.

  • Funding The authors have not declared a specific grant for this research from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

  • Competing interests None declared.

  • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; internally peer reviewed.