# Impact of the SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) Pandemic on Characteristics and Management of Uveal Melanoma in the National Referral Center in Poland

## TL;DR

The study found that during the COVID-19 pandemic, uveal melanoma tumors were larger and more likely to be removed completely in Poland's national referral center.

## Contribution

This is one of the few studies analyzing the impact of the pandemic on uveal melanoma with a large patient sample from a national referral center.

## Key findings

- Uveal melanoma tumors were significantly larger during the pandemic compared to pre-pandemic years.
- More tumors were located anterior to the equator of the eye globe during the pandemic.
- The rate of enucleation (eye removal) increased from 15.94% in 2018 to 26.90% in 2021.

## Abstract

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)(COVID-19) has been reported in China since December 2019, and the global outbreak began in early 2020, with the first lockdowns in Europe implemented in February 2020. Restrictions taken to limit the exposure of patients to virus contagion had a notable impact for non-COVID-19 pathologies, including eye cancers. Despite the fact that uveal melanoma is the most common primary intraocular cancer in adults, the number of publications on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the characteristics and treatment of uveal melanoma is limited, and most of them have included small patient samples. We studied the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the characteristics and management of uveal melanoma (UM) in a group of 1336 patients from the National Referral Center in Poland.

(1) Background: to analyze the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the characteristics and management of uveal melanoma (UM) in the National Referral Center in Poland. (2) Materials and Methods: the retrospective analysis of 1336 patients who were newly diagnosed with UM at the Department of Ophthalmology and Ophthalmic Oncology, Jagiellonian University Collegium Medicum Krakow, Poland between 1 January 2018 and 31 December 2021. The demographic and clinical data were compiled, including localization, size, and treatment methods of tumors. (3) Results: In total, 728 patients with UM were included before the COVID-19 pandemic, in the years 2018–2019, and 608 were included during the COVID-19 pandemic, in the years 2020–2021. Fixed-base dynamics indicators for the incidence of uveal melanoma (base year 2018) in the National Referral Center in Poland were 80.22% and 86.81% in the years 2020 and 2021, respectively. UMs were statistically significantly larger and more frequently localized anterior to the equator of the eye globe in the year 2021 than in the year 2018 (Chi-square Pearson test p = 0.0001 and p = 0.0077, respectively). The rate of patients treated with enucleation increased from 15.94% in the year 2018 to 26.90% in the year 2021 (Chi-square Pearson test p = 0.0005). (4) Conclusions: Statistically significant differences were found in the management of uveal melanoma in the National Referral Center in Poland during the COVID-19 pandemic with tumors being larger, more frequently localized anterior to the equator of the eye globe, and more often enucleated.