Does Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Pandemic Cause a Delay in the Diagnosis of Gastric Cancer Patients?

Study Overview
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Brief Summary
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The aim of this study is to analyze whether COVID-19 causes a delay in the diagnosis of gastric cancer patients particularly in the TNM staging of the tumor, or not and to compare the number of newly diagnosed patients with gastric cancer before and during the COVID-19 pandemic period.

Detailed Description
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The study included the patients diagnosed with gastric cancer during the period between March 1, 2020, and December 31, 2020, in the pandemic group at the Adana City Training and Research Hospital, Department of General Surgery, Divisions of Gastroenterological Surgery and Surgical Oncology. For the baseline group, patients diagnosed with gastric cancer between January 1, 2019, and December 31, 2019, was included in the same department. Clinical and pathological data of the patients were retrospectively collected from the hospital medical records. The following parameters were compared between the pandemic and baseline periods; age and gender distributions, mean monthly numbers of newly diagnosed patients, CEA and CEA-19.9 levels, the type of the surgery, the location of the tumor, the frequency of the patients receiving neoadjuvant treatment, American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) score, length of the hospital stay, clinical staging and pathologic TNM staging.

Official Title
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Does Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Pandemic Cause a Delay in the Diagnosis of Gastric Cancer Patients?

Conditions
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Stomach Cancer, Corona Virus Infection

Intervention / Treatment
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* Procedure: Gastric cancer surgery


Participation Criteria
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Eligibility Criteria
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Inclusion Criteria: Patients newly diagnosed with gastric cancer at specified intervals will be included in the study. Exclusion Criteria: Having an additional second primary tumor

Ages Eligible for Study
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Minimum Age: 18 Years
Maximum Age: 95 Years

Sexes Eligible for Study
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All

Accepts Healthy Volunteers
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No

Study Plan
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How is the study designed?
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Arms and Interventions

| Participant Group/Arm | Intervention/Treatment |
| --- | --- |
| Baseline group<br>The baseline group included the patients diagnosed with gastric cancer between January 1, 2019, and December 31, 2019, in the pandemic group at the Adana City Training and Research Hospital, Department of General Surgery, Divisions of Gastroenterological Surgery and Surgical Oncology. Gastric cancer surgery for adequate patients. | Procedure: Gastric cancer surgery<br>* Appropriate gastric cancer surgery types for the convenient patients<br>|
| Pandemic group<br>The pandemic group included the patients diagnosed with gastric cancer during the period between March 1, 2020, and December 31, 2020, in the pandemic group at the Adana City Training and Research Hospital, Department of General Surgery, Divisions of Gastroenterological Surgery and Surgical Oncology. Gastric cancer surgery for adequate patients. | Procedure: Gastric cancer surgery<br>* Appropriate gastric cancer surgery types for the convenient patients<br>|

What is the study measuring?
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Primary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Comparison of the mean monthly numbers of newly diagnosed gastric cancer patients between the groups | numbers of newly diagnosed gastric cancer | from March 1, 2020 to December 31, 2020 -from January 1, 2019 to December 31, 2019 | 
| Comparison of the clinical staging and pathologic TNM staging of the patients | Clinical staging was determined based on the results of a physical exam, biopsy, and imaging tests including computed tomography (CT), PET CT, endoscopy and the endoscopic ultrasound. Surgical stage refers to the pathologic stage of the surgical specimen determined based on the American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) TNM system. | from March 1, 2020 to December 31, 2020 -from January 1, 2019 to December 31, 2019 | 

Secondary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Comparison of the demographic data | age and gender distributions, mean monthly numbers of newly diagnosed patients, CEA and CEA-19.9 levels, the type of the surgery, the location of the tumor, the frequency of the patients receiving neoadjuvant treatment, American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) score, length of the hospital stay, | from March 1, 2020 to December 31, 2020 -from January 1, 2019 to December 31, 2019 | 

 Terms related to the study
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Keywords Provided by Centre Hospitalier Valida
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gastric surgery, COVID-19, SARS-COV-2, pandemic, stomach surgery, cancer surgery