Deniz BAKLACI, Duygu ERDEM, Gökhan Furkan KILIÇ, Aleyna ŞİVETOĞLU, Hüseyin IŞIK, Ergin BİLGİN, Mehmet Murat GÜNAY, Ömer BAYIR
The Turkish Journal of Ear Nose and Throat - 2026;36(1):16-21
Objective: To evaluate the long-term effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on surgical oncology by comparing the demographic and clinical characteristics of patients undergoing surgery for head and neck cancer during the pandemic and postpandemic periods. Materials and Methods: This retrospective study included 167 patients who underwent surgery at our clinic between March 2020 and March 2025. Patients were grouped as pandemic (n=53) and postpandemic (n=114). Age, diagnosis-to-surgery time, hospital stay, tumour localisation, pathological stage, and histopathology were compared. Results: There was a statistically significant reduction in patients' average age during the pandemic (p=0.009). No significant differences were observed in the interval from diagnosis to surgery, postoperative hospitalisation duration, or pathological stage. The distribution of tumour localisation showed a difference approaching statistical significance (p=0.052). The postpandemic period exhibited a significantly higher proportion of SCC (p=0.016). Conclusion: The pandemic had enduring repercussions on head and neck cancer surgery, altering patient profiles and tumour types, and indicating indirect impacts on healthcare access.
