Tabassum Khan’s research while affiliated with University of Birmingham and other places

BACKGROUND: The CovidSurg-Cancer Consortium aimed to explore the impact of COVID-19 in surgical patients and services for solid cancers at the start of the pandemic. The CovidSurg-Gynecologic Oncology Cancer subgroup was particularly concerned about the magnitude of adverse outcomes caused by the disrupted surgical gynecologic cancer care during the COVID-19 pandemic, which are currently unclear. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to evaluate the changes in care and short-term outcomes of surgical patients with gynecologic cancers during the COVID-19 pandemic. We hypothesized that the COVID-19 pandemic had led to a delay in surgical cancer care, especially in patients who required more extensive surgery, and such delay had an impact on cancer outcomes. STUDY DESIGN: This was a multicenter, international, prospective cohort study. Consecutive patients with gynecologic cancers who were initially planned for nonpalliative surgery, were recruited from the date of first COVID-19-related admission in each participating center for 3 months. The follow-up period was 3 months from the time of the multidisciplinary tumor board decision to operate. The primary outcome of this analysis is the incidence of pandemic-related changes in care. The secondary outcomes included 30-day perioperative mortality and morbidity and a composite outcome of unresectable disease or disease progression, emergency surgery, and death. RESULTS: We included 3973 patients (3784 operated and 189 nonoperated) from 227 centers in 52 countries and 7 world regions who were initially planned to have cancer surgery. In 20.7% (823/3973) of the patients, the standard of care was adjusted. A significant delay (>8 weeks) was observed in 11.2% (424/3784) of patients, particularly in those with ovarian cancer (213/1355; 15.7%; P<.0001). This delay was associated with a composite of adverse outcomes, including disease progression and death (95/424; 22.4% vs 601/3360; 17.9%; P¼.024) compared with those who had operations within 8 weeks of tumor board decisions. One in 13 (189/2430; 7.9%) did not receive their planned operations, in whom 1 in 20 (5/189; 2.7%) died and 1 in 5 (34/189; 18%) experienced disease progression or death within 3 months of multidisciplinary team board decision for surgery. Only 22 of the 3778 surgical patients (0.6%) acquired perioperative SARS-CoV-2 infections; they had a longer postoperative stay (median 8.5 vs 4 days; P<.0001), higher predefined surgical morbidity (14/22; 63.6% vs 717/3762; 19.1%; P<.0001) and mortality (4/22; 18.2% vs 26/3762; 0.7%; P<.0001) rates than the uninfected cohort. CONCLUSION: One in 5 surgical patients with gynecologic cancer worldwide experienced management modifications during the COVID-19 pandemic. Significant adverse outcomes were observed in those with delayed or cancelled operations, and coordinated mitigating strategies are urgently needed.

On behalf of the CovidSurg Gynecological Cancer Collaborators BACKGROUND: The CovidSurg-Cancer Consortium aimed to explore the impact of COVID-19 in surgical patients and services for solid cancers at the start of the pandemic. The CovidSurg-Gynecologic Oncology Cancer subgroup was particularly concerned about the magnitude of adverse outcomes caused by the disrupted surgical gynecologic cancer care during the COVID-19 pandemic, which are currently unclear. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to evaluate the changes in care and short-term outcomes of surgical patients with gynecologic cancers during the COVID-19 pandemic. We hypothesized that the COVID-19 pandemic had led to a delay in surgical cancer care, especially in patients who required more extensive surgery, and such delay had an impact on cancer outcomes. STUDY DESIGN: This was a multicenter, international, prospective cohort study. Consecutive patients with gynecologic cancers who were initially planned for nonpalliative surgery, were recruited from the date of first COVID-19-related admission in each participating center for 3 months. The follow-up period was 3 months from the time of the multidisciplinary tumor board decision to operate. The primary outcome of this analysis is the incidence of pandemic-related changes in care. The secondary outcomes included 30-day perioperative mortality and morbidity and a composite outcome of unresectable disease or disease progression, emergency surgery, and death. RESULTS: We included 3973 patients (3784 operated and 189 nonoperated) from 227 centers in 52 countries and 7 world regions who were initially planned to have cancer surgery. In 20.7% (823/3973) of the patients, the standard of care was adjusted. A significant delay (>8 weeks) was observed in 11.2% (424/3784) of patients, particularly in those with ovarian cancer (213/1355; 15.7%; P<.0001). This delay was associated with a composite of adverse outcomes, including disease progression and death (95/424; 22.4% vs 601/3360; 17.9%; P¼.024) compared with those who had operations within 8 weeks of tumor board decisions. One in 13 (189/2430; 7.9%) did not receive their planned operations, in whom 1 in 20 (5/189; 2.7%) died and 1 in 5 (34/189; 18%) experienced disease progression or death within 3 months of multidisciplinary team board decision for surgery. Only 22 of the 3778 surgical patients (0.6%) acquired perioperative SARS-CoV-2 infections; they had a longer postoperative stay (median 8.5 vs 4 days; P<.0001), higher predefined surgical morbidity (14/22; 63.6% vs 717/3762; 19.1%; P<.0001) and mortality (4/22; 18.2% vs 26/3762; 0.7%; P<.0001) rates than the uninfected cohort. CONCLUSION: One in 5 surgical patients with gynecologic cancer worldwide experienced management modifications during the COVID-19 pandemic. Significant adverse outcomes were observed in those with delayed or cancelled operations, and coordinated mitigating strategies are urgently needed.

Objectives The magnitude of adverse outcomes caused by the disrupted surgical cancer care during the COVID-19 pandemic is unclear. Our aim was to evaluate the changes in care and short-term outcomes of surgical patients with gynecological cancers during the initial phase of the COVID-19 pandemic internationally. Methods A multicenter, international prospective cohort study including consecutive patients with gynecological cancers who were initially planned for non-palliative surgery. Primary outcome: 30-day postoperative SARS-CoV-2 infection rate. Secondary outcomes: 30-day perioperative mortality and morbidity, COVID-19-related treatment modifications. Results We included 3973 patients (52 countries; 7 world regions). Lower-than-reported rate (22/3778; 0.6%) of perioperative SARS-CoV-2 infections was observed. This group had higher morbidity (63.6% vs 19.1%; p<0.0001) and mortality (18.2% vs 0.7%; p<0.0001), compared to the uninfected cohort. In 20.7% (823/3973), standard of care was adjusted. Significant delay (>8 weeks) was observed in 11.2% (424/3784), particularly in those with ovarian cancer (213/1355; 15.7%). This delay was associated with a composite of adverse outcomes including disease progression and death (95/424; 22.4% versus 601/3360; 17.9%, p=0.024), compared to those who had operations within 8 weeks of their MDT decisions. One in thirteen did not receive their planned operations (189/2430; 7.9%), in whom 1 in 20 (5/189; 2.7%) died and 1 in 5 (34/189; 18%) experienced disease progression or death within 3 months of decisions for surgery. Conclusions One in five surgical patients with gynecological cancer worldwide experienced management modifications during the COVID-19 pandemic. Significant adverse outcomes were observed in those with delayed or cancelled operations- coordinated mitigating strategies are urgently needed.

The logistic strain on the health care system during the COVID-19 pandemic disproportionally affected women with gynecologic cancers and surgical care delivery. Surgeries were being delayed or replaced by systemic or palliative care options with less favorable outcomes. The true impact of pandemic-related modifications to clinical management of surgical gynecologic cancer patients remains unknown. This international prospective cohort study aimed to analyze the clinical and surgical outcomes of patients with gynecologic cancer who had or were planned to have first-line treatment during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study was part of an umbrella study exploring the impact of COVID-19 in surgical patients across all solid cancer types and multiple specialties (GlobalSurg-CovidSurg Consortium). All hospitals that included patients discussed for surgery regardless of whether they were operated on or not were included in this study. Patients who were planned for curative or life-prolonging surgery or underwent surgery for gynecologic cancer during the COVID-19 pandemic were included. Patients were followed up from the time of multidisciplinary team decision for surgery for the next 3 months, representing the first peak period of the pandemic. The primary outcome was the incidence in pandemic-related changes in care, whereas secondary outcomes included perioperative morbidity and mortality, wait time before surgery, postoperative hospital stay time, proportion of patients not operated on with progression to incurable disease or death, and a composite adverse outcome to measure the potential impact of any treatment delays or adjustment. A total of 3973 patients from 227 centers across 52 countries were included, of whom 3784 (95.2%) ultimately underwent surgery. The majority of patients had uterine or ovarian cancer (n = 3270 [82%]) and were from high-income countries (n = 2906 [73%]). A total of 189 operations (7.9%) were canceled. Although the median time from multidisciplinary team decision to surgery was 3 weeks, 11.2% (424/3784) of patients underwent surgery more than 8 weeks later. Among ovarian cancer patients with stage III/IV disease and a significant delay (>8 weeks) of surgery, 83.6% had neoadjuvant chemotherapy compared with 21% for those who did not experience a delay ( P < 0.0001). The overall 30-day postoperative complication rate was 19.3%, and the postoperative COVID-19 infection rate was 0.6%. The length of stay was significantly longer for COVID-19–infected patients (median, 8.5 vs 4 days; P = 0.0001). When evaluating the entire cohort, a total of 20.7% (823/3973) had their standard of care adjusted because of the pandemic. Patients in low- and middle-income countries ( P < 0.0001), areas under full lockdown ( P < 0.0001), with worse performance status ( P < 0.0001), more comorbidities ( P = 0.0242), higher American Society of Anesthesiologists grade ( P = 0.010), ovarian cancer ( P < 0.001), and stage 3 or 4 diseases ( P < 0.0001) were more likely to have their operations more than 8 weeks after the MTD decision. There was no significant difference in 30-day mortality among those with delayed operations; however, a significant difference was observed for the adverse composite outcome owing to delay including unresectable disease or disease progression, emergency surgery, and death (95/424 [22.4%] vs 601/3360 [17.9%]; P = 0.024). The results of this study demonstrate that despite a very low risk of perioperative COVID-19 infection, a significant portion of gynecologic cancer surgical patients had treatment plan modifications associated with early negative impact.

Introduction/Background The magnitude of adverse outcomes caused by the disrupted surgical cancer care during the COVID-19 pandemic is unclear. The aim of CovidSurg-Gynaecological Cancer study was to evaluate the changes in care and short-term outcomes of surgical patients with gynecological cancers during the initial phase of the COVID-19 pandemic internationally. Methodology A multicenter, international prospective cohort study including consecutive patients with gynecological cancers who were initially planned for non-palliative surgery. Primary outcome The incidence of pandemic-related changes in care Secondary outcomes 30-day postoperative morbidity and mortality ratesA composite outcome of unresectable disease or disease progression, emergency surgery and death Results We included 3973 patients (52 countries; 7 world regions; 27% from low-and-middle-income countries).Lower-than-reported rate (22/3778; 0.6%) of perioperative SARS-CoV-2 infections was observed. This group had higher morbidity (63.6% vs 19.1%; p<0.0001) and mortality (18.2% vs 0.7%; p<0.0001) rates, compared to the uninfected cohort. In 20.7% (823/3973), standard of care was adjusted. Significant delay (>8 weeks) was observed in 11.2% (424/3784), particularly in those with ovarian cancer (213/1355; 15.7%). This delay was associated with the use of neoadjuvant chemotherapy (p<0.0001), a composite of adverse outcomes including disease progression and death (95/424; 22.4% versus 601/3360; 17.9%, p=0.024), compared to those who had operations within 8 weeks of their MDT decisions. One in thirteen did not receive their planned operations (189/2430; 7.9%), in whom 1 in 20 (5/189; 2.7%) died and 1 in 5 (34/189; 18%) experienced disease progression or death within 3 months of MDT decisions for surgery Conclusion One in five surgical patients with gynecological cancer worldwide experienced management modifications during the COVID-19 pandemic. Significant adverse outcomes were observed in those with delayed or cancelled operations. This global data on the magnitude of care changes and their consequences could be used to leverage resources for the ongoing mitigating strategies worldwide.

Background: The CovidSurg-Cancer consortium aimed to explore the impact of COVID-19 in surgical patients and services for solid cancers at the start of the pandemic. The CovidSurg-GO Cancer subgroup was particularly concerned about the magnitude of adverse outcomes caused by the disrupted surgical gynecological cancer care during the COVID-19 pandemic, which is currently unclear. Objective: To evaluate the changes in care and short-term outcomes of surgical patients with gynecological cancers during the COVID-19 pandemic. We hypothesized that the COVID-19 pandemic had led to a delay in surgical cancer care, especially in patients who required more extensive surgery, and such delay had an impact on cancer outcomes. Study design: A multicenter, international, prospective cohort study. Consecutive patients with gynecological cancers who were initially planned for non-palliative surgery were recruited from the date of first COVID-19-related admission in each participating center for 3 months. Follow-up period was 3 months from the time of the multidisciplinary tumor board decision to operate. The primary outcome of this analysis is the incidence of pandemic-related changes in care. Secondary outcomes included 30-day perioperative mortality and morbidity and a composite outcome of unresectable disease or disease progression, emergency surgery and death. Results: We included 3973 patients (3784 operated and 189 non-operated) from 227 centers in 52 countries and 7 world regions who were initially planned to have cancer surgery. In 20.7% (823/3973) of the patients, standard of care was adjusted. Significant delay (>8 weeks) was observed in 11.2% (424/3784) of patients, particularly in those with ovarian cancer (213/1355; 15.7%, p<0.0001). This delay was associated with a composite of adverse outcomes including disease progression and death (95/424; 22.4% versus 601/3360; 17.9%, p=0.024), compared to those who had operations within 8 weeks of tumor board decisions. One in thirteen did not receive their planned operations (189/2430; 7.9%), in whom 1 in 20 (5/189; 2.7%) died and 1 in 5 (34/189; 18%) experienced disease progression or death within 3 months of MDT decision for surgery. Only 22 of the 3778 surgical patients (0.6%) acquired perioperative SARS-CoV-2 infections; they had longer postoperative stay (median 8.5 vs 4 days; p<0.0001), higher predefined surgical morbidity (14/22; 63.6% vs 717/3762; 19.1%; p<0.0001) and mortality (4/22; 18.2% vs 26/3762; 0.7%; p<0.0001) rates, compared to the uninfected cohort. Conclusions: One in five surgical patients with gynecological cancer worldwide experienced management modifications during the COVID-19 pandemic. Significant adverse outcomes were observed in those with delayed or cancelled operations- coordinated mitigating strategies are urgently needed.

Aim: The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has provided a unique opportunity to explore the impact of surgical delays on cancer resectability. This study aimed to compare resectability for colorectal cancer patients undergoing delayed versus non-delayed surgery. Methods: International prospective cohort study of consecutive colorectal cancer patients with a decision for curative surgery (January-April 2020). Surgical delay was defined as an operation taking place more than 4 weeks after treatment decision, in a patient who did not receive neoadjuvant therapy. A subgroup analysis explored effects of delay in elective patients only. The impact of longer delays was explored in a sensitivity analysis. The primary outcome was complete resection, defined as curative resection with a R0 margin. Results: Overall, 5453 patients from 304 hospitals in 47 countries were included, of which 6.6% (358/5453) did not receive their planned operation. Of the 4304 operated patients without neoadjuvant therapy, 40.5% (1744/4304) were delayed beyond four weeks. Delayed patients were more likely to be older, male, more comorbid, have higher BMI, have rectal cancer and early-stage disease. Delayed patients had higher unadjusted rates of complete resection (93.7% vs 91.9%, p=0.032) and lower rates of emergency surgery (4.5% vs 22.5%, p<0.001). After adjustment, delay was not associated with a lower rate of complete resection (OR 1.18, 95%CI 0.90-1.55, p=0.224), which was consistent in elective patients only (OR 0.94, 95%CI 0.69-1.27, p=0.672). Longer delays were not associated with poorer outcomes. Conclusion: One in fifteen colorectal cancer patients did not receive their planned operation during the first wave of COVID-19. Surgical delay did not appear to compromise resectability, raising the hypothesis that any reduction in long-term survival attributable to delays is likely to be due to micro-metastatic disease.

Objectives: Frailty has been associated with worse cancer-related outcomes for people with gynecological cancers. However, the lack of clear guidance on how to assess and modify frailty prior to instigating active treatments has the potential to lead to large variations in practice and outcomes. This study aimed to evaluate current practice and perspectives of healthcare practitioners on the provision of care for patients with frailty and a gynecological cancer. Methods: Data were collected via a questionnaire-based survey distributed by the Audit and Research in Gynecological Oncology (ARGO) collaborative to healthcare professionals who identified as working with patients with gynecological malignancies in the United Kingdom (UK) or Ireland. Study data were collected using REDCap software hosted at the University of Manchester. Responses were collected over a 16 week period between January and April 2021. Results: A total of 206 healthcare professionals (30 anesthetists (14.6%), 30 pre-operative nurses (14.6%), 51 surgeons (24.8%), 34 cancer specialist nurses (16.5%), 21 medical/clinical oncologists (10.2%), 25 physiotherapists/occupational therapists (12.1%) and 15 dieticians (7.3%)) completed the survey. The respondents worked at 19 hospital trusts across the UK and Ireland. Frailty scoring was not routinely performed in 63% of care settings, yet the majority of practitioners reported modifying their practice when providing and deciding on care for patients with frailty. Only 16% of organizations surveyed had a dedicated pathway for assessment and management of patients with frailty. A total of 37% of respondents reported access to prehabilitation services, 79% to enhanced recovery, and 27% to community rehabilitation teams. Conclusion: Practitioners from all groups surveyed considered that appropriate training, dedicated pathways for optimization, frailty specific performance indicators and evidence that frailty scoring had an impact on clinical outcomes and patient experience could all help to improve care for frail patients.