Willingness to delay treatment during the COVID-19 surge
The majority of respondents were willing to delay their normal treatment
timeline by 2 weeks or 4 weeks for early tumor stage oral cavity cancer
(53.7%), while few were willing to delay 6 weeks (10.4%) and no
respondents were willing to delay beyond 6 weeks (Figure 2). Respondents
were least likely to delay treatment for a locally advanced oral cavity
cancer as compared to other tumors that were assessed. For early stage
glottic cancers and HPV-mediated oropharynx cancers, the largest
percentage of surgeons were willing to wait up to 4 weeks with a
minority of respondents willing to wait up to 8 weeks. Participants
responded similarly in regards to locally advanced laryngeal cancers and
recurrent laryngeal cancers with the largest group willing to wait up to
4 weeks for surgical therapy.