Prioritizing Melanoma Surgeries to Prevent Wait Time Delays and Upstaging of Melanoma during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

Prompt diagnosis and surgical management of melanoma strongly impact prognosis. Considering the limited resources, emergency closures, and staffing shortages during the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada, our institution implemented a dedicated care pathway to prioritize cancer surgeries. We aim to assess whether this strategy was effective at preventing surgical wait time delays and upstaging of melanoma. We retrospectively collected data of patients aged ≥18 years with biopsy-proven primary melanoma who underwent wide local excision (WLE) ± sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) between 1 March 2018–29 February 2020 (pre-pandemic) and 1 March 2020–22 March 2022 (pandemic). Patients with distant metastasis, recurrence, in situ disease, and unknown primary were excluded. Wait time from consult to surgery, tumour (T) and nodal (N) stage, and overall stage were collected. Results: We included 419 patients [pre-pandemic (n = 204) and pandemic (n = 215)]. Median wait time (days) [interquartile range] to surgery was 36 [22–48] pre-pandemic and 35 [24–49] during the pandemic (p = 0.888). There were no differences found in T stage (p = 0.060), N stage (p = 0.214), or overall melanoma stage (p = 0.192). We highlight the importance of streamlining melanoma surgery during a pandemic. As the need arises to meet surgical backlogs including benign surgery, dedicated cancer surgery should maintain a priority to not negatively affect cancer outcomes.