Minimally Invasive Surgery for Colorectal Cancer During the COVID-19 Pandemic in a Tertiary Medical Facility in Japan.

BACKGROUND/AIM: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has reduced hospital visits due to concerns regarding infection and also resulted in cancer screening delays. These changes may have had an impact on the progression of colorectal cancer (CRC). Therefore, the present study investigated the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on minimally invasive surgery (MIS) for CRC using a correlation analysis of clinical outcomes before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. PATIENTS AND METHODS: The present study targeted CRC patients who underwent MIS between January 2018 and December 2019 (pre-COVID-19) and between April 2020 and March 2021 (COVID-19). A comparison analysis of clinical, surgical, and pathological findings between the pre-COVID-19 and COVID-19 groups was performed. RESULTS: Ninety-one patients underwent MIS for CRC pre-COVID-19 and 67 during COVID-19. The number of CRC cases detected by fecal occult blood tests was slightly higher in the pre-COVID-19 group than that in the COVID-19 group. Re-evaluations of laparoscopic videos revealed that the number of cases of surgical T4 CRC resected with the combined resection of the adjacent organs was significantly higher in the COVID-19 group than that in the pre-COVID-19 group (16.4 vs. 4.4%, p=0.010). Furthermore, surgical times were significantly longer in the COVID-19 group than those in the pre-COVID-19 group (p<0.001). Pathological findings showed that the number of pT4 cases was significantly higher in the COVID-19 group than that in the pre-COVID-19 group (p=0.026). CONCLUSION: The number of T4 CRC cases was higher during than before the COVID-19 pandemic, with increases in the surgical difficulty of MIS.

[A Case of an Intraductal Papillary Mucinous Neoplasm Which Rapidly Worsened and Penetrated into the Stomach and the Transverse Colon].

We report a case of a 71-year-old woman.She visited our hospital with a complaint of high fever and abdominal distention. She has been pointed out intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasm(IPMN)4 years ago.Abdominal CT showed cystic legion, 80mm in diameter, on the pancreas.The lesion was unclear at the boundary between the main pancreatic duct and in contact with the stomach, transverse colon.Upper endoscopic and colonoscopic examination revealed the exhaustion image from the intestional tract but not pointed out the malignant findings.We performed total pancreatectomy, total gastrectomy and partial transverse colectomy.Pathological examination revealed the intraductal papillary mucinous carcinoma but the tumor did not invaded the stomach and colon.It is known that some cases of IPMN form fistulae to adjacent organs.We report a case of IPMN penetrating into the stomach and colon.