Article Text
Abstract
Introduction The University College Dublin Gynecological Oncology Group (UCD-GOG), is a tertiary referral centre for gynecological cancers. A review of all cases of endometrial cancer (EC) presenting to this service from 2019 – 2022 was completed. The aim was to assess the impact of COVID-19 restrictions in March 2020 to the patterns of presentation of EC.
Methods We completed a retrospective cohort review of all cases of EC diagnosed in the UCD-GOG from 2019 – 2022 inclusive.
Results 732 patients were diagnosed with EC during this period. The histological diagnoses of 81.3% of ECs were Endometrioid Carcinoma. We observed an increase in the numbers of EC diagnoses from 177 in 2019 – 189 in 2022. We noted a year on year increase in stage 1A EC diagnoses, and an increase in the proportion of Stage 2 EC diagnoses. The incidence of all stage 3 and 4A ECs was stable over the course of time evaluated; however, we did note a 4.3% reduction in the proportion of Stage 4B EC diagnoses, falling from 8.5% to 4.2%.
Conclusion/Implications We observed an increase in the numbers of EC diagnosed from 2019 – 2022; this is consistent with the rising incidence of EC worldwide. Early-stage disease accounts for the majority of new cases diagnosed in our centre; We did not observe a significant increase in late-stage diagnoses over the course of the COVID pandemic in our centre; this reflects a service which continued to provide appropriate and timely care to those referred.