Dear Editor,We would like to share ideas on the publication “Impact of COVID-19 on presentation, staging, and treatment of head and neck mucosal squamous cell carcinoma [1].” Stevens et al. noted that “Head and neck mucosal SCC patients presented with more advanced clinical nodal disease during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic despite no change in presenting symptoms” [1]. We agree that there may be a change as a result of COVID-19. In contrast to another previous report from Europe, the current study's findings. There were fewer cancer diagnoses in that report [2] compared to the pre-COVID-19 period, which could be because malignant patients did not and could not get medical care during the COVID-19 outbreak period. Nonetheless, the rising number of cases of advanced cancer may be due to individuals' inability to obtain healthcare. Access to healthcare services may be limited in diverse locations due to varied patterns of head and neck cancer presentation among the local population.
Authors: Rosanne C Schoonbeek; Dominique V C de Jel; Boukje A C van Dijk; Stefan M Willems; Elisabeth Bloemena; Frank J P Hoebers; Esther van Meerten; Berit M Verbist; Ludi E Smeele; György B Halmos; Matthias A W Merkx; Sabine Siesling; Remco De Bree; Robert P Takes Journal: Radiother Oncol Date: 2021-12-13 Impact factor: 6.280
Authors: Madelyn N Stevens; Ankita Patro; Bushra Rahman; Yue Gao; Dandan Liu; Anthony Cmelak; Jamie Wiggleton; Young J Kim; Alexander Langerman; Kyle Mannion; Robert J Sinard; James L Netterville; Sarah L Rohde; Michael C Topf Journal: Am J Otolaryngol Date: 2021-10-08 Impact factor: 1.808
Authors: Madelyn N Stevens; Ankita Patro; Bushra Rahman; Yue Gao; Dandan Liu; Anthony Cmelak; Jamie Wiggleton; Young Kim; Alexander Langerman; Kyle Mannion; Robert Sinard; James Netterville; Sarah L Rohde; Michael C Topf Journal: Am J Otolaryngol Date: 2022-02-03 Impact factor: 2.873