Objective The COVID-19 pandemic had an undoubted impact on the provision of elective and emergency cancer care, including the diagnosis and management of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Our aim was to determine the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on patients with HCC in the West of Scotland. Design This was a retrospective audit of a prospectively collated database of patients presented to the West of Scotland Multidisciplinary Team (MDT) between April and October 2020 (during the pandemic), comparing baseline demographics, characteristics of disease at presentation, diagnostic workup, treatment and outcomes with patients from April to October 2019 (pre pandemic). Results There was a 36.5% reduction in new cases referred to the MDT during the pandemic. Patients presented at a significantly later Barcelona Cancer Liver Clinic stage (24% stage D during the pandemic, 9.5% pre pandemic, p<0.001) and with a significantly higher Child-Pugh Score (46% Child-Pugh B/C during the pandemic vs 27% pre pandemic, p<0.001). We observed a reduction in overall survival (OS) among all patients with a median OS during the pandemic of 6 months versus 17 months pre pandemic (p=0.048). Conclusion The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic is likely to have contributed to a reduction in the presentation of new cases and survival among patients with HCC in the West of Scotland. The reason for this is likely multifactorial, but disruption of standard care is likely to have played a significant role. Resources should be provided to address the backlog and ensure there are robust investigation and management pathways going forward. Anonymised data will be available upon reasonable request to the corresponding author.

中文翻译：

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COVID-19 大流行对苏格兰西部肝细胞癌患者的影响：一项队列研究

目的 COVID-19 大流行无疑对选择性和紧急癌症护理的提供产生了影响，包括肝细胞癌 (HCC) 患者的诊断和治疗。我们的目的是确定 COVID-19 大流行对苏格兰西部 HCC 患者的影响。设计 这是对 2020 年 4 月至 10 月（大流行期间）提交给苏格兰西部多学科小组 (MDT) 的患者数据库进行的前瞻性整理的回顾性审计，比较基线人口统计数据、就诊时的疾病特征、诊断检查、治疗和2019 年 4 月至 10 月（大流行前）患者的结果。结果 疫情期间转介 MDT 的新病例减少了 36.5%。患者在巴塞罗那癌症肝脏临床分期明显较晚（大流行期间 24% D 期，大流行前 9.5%，p<0.001），并且具有显着更高的 Child-Pugh 评分（大流行期间 46% Child-Pugh B/C）与大流行前的 27% 相比，p<0.001）。我们观察到，与大流行前 17 个月相比，大流行期间 6 个月中位 OS 的所有患者的总生存期 (OS) 有所下降 (p=0.048)。结论 COVID-19 大流行的影响可能导致苏格兰西部 HCC 患者新发病例数和生存率的下降。造成这种情况的原因可能是多因素的，但标准护理的中断可能发挥了重要作用。应提供资源来解决积压问题，并确保未来有强有力的调查和管理途径。匿名数据将根据相应作者的合理要求提供。