Delay to Diagnosis in Digestive Cancerology by the General Practitioner Related to Covid-19 Pandemic Confinement

Delay to Diagnosis and Management in Digestive Cancerology by the General Practitioner Within the City-hospital Network in the Context of Confinement Related to the Covid-19 Pandemic

Objective: the pre-hospital management of cancers is little known in General Medicine. The first lockdown related to the COVID-19 pandemic led to the closure of health facilities. Investigators were interested in the diagnosis and care pathway of digestive cancers in post-confinement in General Medicine in Nouvelle-Aquitaine.

Method: patient records discussed in Digestive Oncology CPR of Bordeaux University Hospital for the first time from June 1 to August 31, 2020 and over the same period in 2019 were included. A questionnaire on the dates of the first symptoms, first consultation with the general practitioner, imaging examination and access to the specialist was sent to the general practitioner. The primary outcome was time from onset to date of first MDT.

Inclusion Criteria:

• residing in New Aquitaine and
• whose general practitioner practiced in New Aquitaine
• malignant tumors of the esophagus, stomach, small intestine, colon, recto-sigmoid junction, rectum, anus and anal canal, liver and intrahepatic bile ducts, extrahepatic bile ducts, gallbladder and pancreas.
• to have had at least one consultation or hospitalization in the digestive pole of the Bordeaux University Hospital within 6 months after the MDT.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Patients under 18 years of age,
• who had already had a MDT for this cancer,
• whose date of first MDT was outside the inclusion dates,
• whose new cancer was a digestive metastasis of a primary of another location,
• who did not have French health insurance