• Caitlin A Harrington, Meier Hsu, Kay See Tan, Benjamin Medina, Thomas Boerner, Prasad S Adusumilli, Manjit S Bains, Matthew J Bott, James M Isbell, Bernard J Park, Smita Sihag, Valerie W Rusch, David R Jones, Gaetano Rocco, and Daniela Molena.
• Thoracic Service, Department of Surgery, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY.
• Ann. Surg. 2023 Jul 1; 278 (1): e179e183e179-e183.

ObjectiveThe objective is to determine how the COVID-19 pandemic affected care for patients undergoing thoracic surgery for cancer.BackgroundThe COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the adoption of telemedicine.MethodsCharacteristics and outcomes of new patients seen between March 1 and June 30, 2019, and the same period in 2020 were compared. Patients who did not undergo surgery were excluded. Patients who had a telemedicine visit (new and established) in the 2020 period were asked to complete a survey.ResultsIn total, 624 new patients were seen in 2019 versus 299 in 2020 (52% reduction); 45% of patients (n=136) in 2020 were seen via telemedicine. There was no statistically significant difference in time to surgery, pathological upstaging, or postsurgical complications between 2019 and 2020. In total, 1085 patients (new and established) had a telemedicine visit in 2020; 239 (22%) completed the survey. A majority replied that telemedicine was equivalent to in-person care (77%), did not impair care quality (84%), resulted in less stress (69%) and shorter waits (86%), was more convenient (92%), saved money and commuting time (93%), and expanded who could attend visits (91%). Some patients regretted the loss of human interaction (71%). Most would opt for telemedicine after the pandemic (60%), although some would prefer in-person format for initial visits (55%) and visits with complex discussions (49%). Only 21% were uncomfortable with the telemedicine technology.ConclusionsTelemedicine enabled cancer care to continue during the COVID-19 pandemic without delays in surgery, cancer progression, or worsened postoperative morbidity and was generally well received.Copyright © 2022 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.

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