Cervical cancer and COVID-an assessment of the initial effect of the pandemic and subsequent projection of impact for women in England: A cohort study.

OBJECTIVE: To review the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the diagnosis of cervical cancer and model the impact on workload over the next 3 years. DESIGN: A retrospective, control, cohort study. SETTING: Six cancer centres in the North of England representing a combined population of 11.5 million. METHODS: Data were collected retrospectively for all diagnoses of cervical cancer during May-October 2019 (Pre-COVID cohort) and May-October 2020 (COVID cohort). Data were used to generate tools to forecast case numbers for the next 3 years. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Histology, stage, presentation, onset of symptoms, investigation and type of treatment. Patients with recurrent disease were excluded. RESULTS: 406 patients were registered across the study periods; 233 in 2019 and 173 in 2020, representing a 25.7% (n = 60) reduction in absolute numbers of diagnoses. This was accounted for by a reduction in the number of low stage cases (104 in 2019 to 77 in 2020). Adding these data to the additional cases associated with a temporary cessation in screening during the pandemic allowed development of forecasts, suggesting that over the next 3 years there would be 586, 228 and 105 extra cases of local, regional and distant disease, respectively, throughout England. Projection tools suggest that increasing surgical capacity by two or three cases per month per centre would eradicate this excess by 12 months and 7 months, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: There is likely to be a significant increase in cervical cancer cases presenting over the next 3 years. Increased surgical capacity could mitigate this with little increase in morbidity or mortality. TWEETABLE ABSTRACT: Covid will result in 919 extra cases of cervical cancer in England alone. Effects can be mitigated by increasing surgical capacity.

Pelvic exenteration: a retrospective study in a tertiary referral cancer center in the UK.

BACKGROUND: Pelvic exenteration (PE) is an extensive surgery that is indicated in cases of recurrent advanced gynecological cancer with curative and sometimes palliative intent. The procedure is associated with both high morbidity and mortality and as such is considered a highly specialist procedure. The aim of the study was to analyze surgical outcomes in women who underwent PE for advanced gynecological malignancy in a tertiary cancer referral center over 11 years. METHODS: This is an observational retrospective single-center study. There were 17 patients included who underwent PE in Hull Royal Infirmary Hospital (Hull, UK) between 2010 and 2021. The main outcome measures were the perioperative complications, overall survival (OS), and recurrence free survival (RFS). Cumulative survival rates were reported at 1, 3 and 5 years. Univariate Cox regression analysis was undertaken to analyze factors that are prognostic for OS and RFS. Hazard Ratios (HR) with 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) were computed from the results of the Cox regression analyses. Kaplan-Meier survival curves were generated to visually display estimates of OS and RFS over the follow-up period. RESULTS: The median age at the time of surgery was 63.0 (IQR: 48.0-71.0). All patients received surgery with curative intent and complete tumor resection (R0) was achieved in 94.1% of cases. An overall 5-year survival was achieved in 63.7% of patients. Mean overall survival (OS) was 8.4 years (95% CI: 7.78-9.02). The RFS was 5.0 years (95% CI: 4.13-5.87). Both OS and RFS were significantly negatively affected by the hospital stay (P=0.020 and P=0.035, respectively), but not by the type of surgery (P=0.263 and P=0.826, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: The results of the study demonstrated stable and comparable outcomes in patients undergoing pelvic exenteration.

Ultra-radical surgery for advanced ovarian cancer: a retrospective cohort study in a tertiary referral cancer center in the UK.

BACKGROUND: Ovarian cancer is the leading cause of death from gynecological cancer in the UK. The standard of care is a combination of surgery and chemotherapy. The aim of the treatment is the resection of all macroscopic disease. In selected cases of advanced ovarian cancer this is achieved with ultra-radical surgery. However, NICE encourages further research due to low quality evidence on the safety and efficacy of this extensive surgery. The aim of this study was to examine the morbidity and survival rates of ultra-radical surgery for advanced ovarian cancer performed in our unit and compare our findings with the current literature. METHODS: This is a retrospective study of 39 patients diagnosed with stage IIIA-IV ovarian and primary peritoneal cancer who underwent surgery in our unit between 2012 and 2020. The main outcome measures were the perioperative complications, the disease-free survival, the overall survival rate and the recurrence rate. RESULTS: The study enrolled 39 patients with stages IIIA-IV who were treated in our unit between 2012 and 2020. 21 patients were at stage III (53.8%) whereas 18 (46.1%) at stage IV. 14 patients underwent primary and 25 secondary debulking surgery. Major and minor complications occurred 17.9% and 56.4% of the patients, respectively. Complete cytoreduction following surgery was achieved in 24 cases (61.5%). The mean and the median survival time were 4.8 years and 5 years, respectively. The mean disease-free survival time was 2.9 years while median disease-free survival time was 2 years. Age (P=0.028) and complete cytoreduction (p=0.048) were found to be significantly associated with survival. Primary debulking surgery was significantly associated with lower probability of recurrence (P=0.049). CONCLUSIONS: Although the number of patients is relatively small, our study indicates that ultra-radical surgery in centers with high expertise may result in excellent survival rates with an acceptable rate of major complications. All patients in our cohort were operated by an accredited gynecological oncologist and a hepatobiliary general surgeon with a special interest in ovarian cancer. A few cases required input from a colorectal and a thoracic surgeon. We believe that the careful selection of the patients that can benefit from ultra-radical surgery and our model of joint surgery can explain our excellent results. Further research is essential to establish that ultra- radical surgery has an acceptable rate of morbidity for patients with advanced ovarian cancer.

A Rare Case of Clear Cell Cervical Carcinoma to a Woman, 50 Years After Diethylstilbestrol Exposure for Lactation Suppression.

A 73-year-old lady presented with post-menopausal bleeding and a suspicious-looking endocervical polyp. She had a loop biopsy of the cervix that showed clear cell cervical carcinoma, and she was referred to our Gynaecology oncology team for further management. Following imaging for staging and an MDT discussion, she had a total abdominal radical hysterectomy that confirmed the diagnosis. The diagnosis of clear cell adenocarcinoma of the cervix is rare, accounting for 4% of cervical carcinomas. However, it is often correlated with diethylstilbestrol (DES) exposure in utero. It is well documented that daughters of mothers who received DES during pregnancy are at a higher risk of adenocarcinomas in the genital tract. In our case, the patient had been administered DES for lactation suppression 50 years earlier. After reviewing the relevant literature, we present the case of our patient, the management of this uncommon case, and help identify possible correlation/long-term implications to patients who received DES.