Global impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on cytopathology practice: Results from an international survey of laboratories in 23 countries.
Elena VigliarRima CepurnaiteEduardo Alcaraz-MateosSyed Z AliZubair W BalochClaudio BellevicineMassimo BongiovanniPavlina BotsunDario BruzzeseLukas BubendorfReinhard BüttnerSule CanberkArrigo CapitanioChiara CasadioEugeniu CazacuBeatrix Cochand-PriolletAlessandro D'AmuriCatarina EloyMarianne EngelsGuido FaddaGabriella FontaniniFranco FulcinitiPaul HofmanAntonino IaccarinoAntonio IeniXiaoyin Sara JiangKennichi KakudoIzidor KernIvana KholovaChinhua LiuAnandi LoboMaria D LozanoUmberto MalapelleZahra MalekiPamela MichelowJamal MusayevGonca ÖzgünMeltem OznurFrancisca Maria Peiró MarquésPasquale PisapiaDavid PollerMichal PyzlakBetsy RobinsonEsther Diana RossiSinchita Roy-ChowdhuriMauro Ajaj SaiegSpasenija Savic PrinceFernando C SchmittFrancisco Javier Seguí IváñezTajana Štoos-VeićOksana SulaievaBrenda J SweeneyGiovanni TuccariMarie-Louise van VelthuysenPaul A VanderLaanPhilippe VielhPatrizia ViolaRinus VoorhamBirgit WeynandPio ZeppaWilliam C FaquinMartha Bishop PitmanGiancarlo TronconePublished in: Cancer cytopathology (2020)
The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in a drastic reduction in the total number of cytology specimens regardless of anatomic site or specimen type. The rate of malignancy increased, reflecting the prioritization of patients with cancer who were considered to be at high risk. Prospective monitoring of the effect of delays in access to health services during the lockdown period is warranted.