Objectives: We performed data collection concerning the
coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic-related
delay in the diagnosis of cancers to individuate proper
corrective procedures.
Methods: A comparison was made among the number
of first pathologic diagnoses of malignancy made from
weeks 11 to 20 of 2018, 2019, and 2020 at seven anatomic
pathology units serving secondary care hospitals in
northern-central Italy.
Results: Cancer diagnoses fell in 2020 by 44.9% compared
with the average number recorded in 2018 and 2019.
Melanoma and nonmelanoma skin cancer represented
56.7% of all missing diagnoses. The diagnostic decrease
in colorectal (–46.6%), prostate (–45%), and bladder
(–43.6%) cancer was the most relevant among internal
malignancies; for prostate, however, high-grade tumors
were only moderately affected (–21.7%).
Conclusions: Diagnosis of cutaneous malignancies
was mostly affected by the lockdown; among internal
malignancies, corrective actions were mostly needed for
colorectal cancer and invasive bladder cancer
