{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,20]],"date-time":"2026-02-20T06:04:34Z","timestamp":1771567474053,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":44,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,20]],"date-time":"2026-02-20T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1771545600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Oncol."],"abstract":"<jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Aim<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>We assumed that patients would present during the pandemic with more advanced, more disseminated, and more symptomatic forms of colon cancer.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Materials and methods<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>We did a retrospective observational study that analyzed the database of the General Surgery Department of a tertiary care center in Romania, analyzing information about the patients from their clinical charts. The study was conducted on 204 patients diagnosed with colon cancer, subdivided into the pre-pandemic group (2019) and the pandemic group (2020). The ages varied between 27 and 95 years old, male and female. We measured: age, gender, year of admission, tumor localization, admission reasons, colon cancer emergencies, post-operative colon cancer complications, endoscopic tumor characteristics, histopathologic result, concomitant colonoscopy finding, presence and sites of metastases, and discharge status.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>The number of presentations was lower in the pandemic year, but non-significant. During the pandemic, patients presented more with abdominal bloating, infiltrative tumors, multiple metastases, especially peritoneal metastases, indicating a more advanced local disease. As for colon cancer emergencies, inferior digestive hemorrhage occurred more frequently, consistent with more locally aggressive tumor behavior.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Conclusions<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>During the pandemic, more patients presented with more oncologically advanced forms of colon cancer, but the cancer-related in-hospital mortality was not influenced. While the pandemic did not increase overall emergency presentations or short-term mortality, it was associated with delayed diagnosis and a higher burden of locally advanced and metastatic colon cancer at presentation.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fonc.2026.1667288","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,20]],"date-time":"2026-02-20T05:21:29Z","timestamp":1771564889000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Influence of COVID-19 pandemic on colon cancer presentations"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"16","author":[{"given":"Arina Cipriana","family":"Pietreanu","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Doctoral School, Carol Davila University of Medicine and Pharmacy","place":["Bucharest, Romania"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Antonia Ioana","family":"Vasile","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Doctoral School, Carol Davila University of Medicine and Pharmacy","place":["Bucharest, Romania"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Cornel","family":"Cheregi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Surgical Disciplines, Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy, University of Oradea","place":["Oradea, Romania"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Simona","family":"Trifu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Neurosciences Department, Carol Davila University of Medicine and Pharmacy","place":["Bucharest, Romania"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Bogdan Mihai","family":"Cristea","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Anatomy, Carol Davila University of Medicine and Pharmacy","place":["Bucharest, Romania"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Bogdan","family":"Socea","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of General Surgery, Carol Davila University of Medicine and Pharmacy","place":["Bucharest, Romania"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,20]]},"reference":[{"key":"B1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/codi.15112","article-title":"COVID-19: Impact on colorectal surgery","volume":"22","author":"Wexner","year":"2020","journal-title":"Colorectal Dis"},{"key":"B2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1108","DOI":"10.1001\/jamaoncol.2020.0980","article-title":"SARS-coV-2 transmission in patients with cancer at a tertiary care hospital in Wuhan, China","volume":"6","author":"Yu","year":"2020","journal-title":"JAMA Oncol"},{"key":"B3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"m1106","DOI":"10.1136\/bmj.m1106","article-title":"Covid-19: All non-urgent elective surgery is suspended for at least three months in England","volume":"368","author":"Iacobucci","year":"2020","journal-title":"BMJ"},{"key":"B4","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1002\/bjs.11859","article-title":"With adequate precautions colorectal cancer surgery can be safely continued during COVID-19 pandemic","volume":"107","author":"Carrano","year":"2020","journal-title":"Br J Surg"},{"key":"B5","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.clcc.2022.02.005","article-title":"Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on colorectal cancer care in the Netherlands: A population-based study","volume":"21","author":"Meijer","year":"2022","journal-title":"Clin Colorectal Cancer"},{"key":"B6","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/S2468-1253(20)30191-6","article-title":"Colorectal cancer screening in the USA in the wake of COVID-19","volume":"5","author":"Shaukat","year":"2020","journal-title":"Lancet Gastroenterol Hepatol"},{"key":"B7","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1002\/bjs.11627","article-title":"COVID-19 pandemic: Perspectives on an unfolding crisis","volume":"107","author":"Spinelli","year":"2020","journal-title":"Br J Surg"},{"key":"B8","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"199","DOI":"10.1016\/S2468-1253(21)00005-4","article-title":"Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the detection and management of colorectal cancer in England: A population-based study","volume":"6","author":"Morris","year":"2021","journal-title":"Lancet Gastroenterol Hepatol"},{"key":"B9","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.6061\/clinics\/2021\/e2507","article-title":"Is it Safe to Perform Elective Colorectal Surgical Procedures during the COVID-19 Pandemic? 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