ABSTRACT
Introduction/Background :After WHO declared Covid-19 as a pandemic, many scientific organizations, including gynecological oncology and gynecological surgery associations, made new recommendations for treatment protocols for certain diseases. Gynecological cancer surgery could not be performed in many hospitals and medical centers , as they could not provide optiamal conditions for their patients and staff. In this process, our hospital, which was a comprehensive cancer center, was defined as Covid-19 free hospital and established as a reference for other institutions regarding priority oncological surgeries by the regional healthcare authorities. Methodology The data of the patients who were operated with the diagnosis of gynecological cancer between March 1, 2020 and March 1, 2021 were scanned through files. Demographics, comorbidities, surgical type, complications and COVID-19 status were reviewed. Statistical analyzes were performed using the SPSS 22.0 (Statistical Program Social Sciences) package program. The study was approved by the ethical committee the Institutional Review Board of Dr. AY Ankara Oncology Training and Research Hospital and the Ministry of Health Scientific Research Platform. Result(s) The study included a total of 74 patients. Mean age was 58 years (range 16-85). Patients were referred with endometrial (32/74, 43,2%), ovarian (36/74, 48,6%), cervical (5/74, 6,8%), or vulvar cancer (1/74, 1,4). All of the patients underwent open-route laparotomy. Mean hospital stay was 12 days (range 6-51). 13 patients had a postoperative complication (13/74, 17,6%). 8 patients tested positive for COVID-19 following a Polymerase Chain Reaction(PCR) test, in the postoperative period, after discharge . PCR test for detection of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-COV- 2) was conducted in 73%. The Covid-19 PCR test has been routinely applied 48 hours before the operation, according to the guidelines published by health authorities since June 2021. Conclusion There is no 'one size fits all' approach to cancer treatment during the COVID-19 pandemic, and there are no international guidelines. Screening and treatment decisions should often be made on a case-by-case basis and often depend on the COVID-19 situation in a single community and the availability of resources. Our study results shows that it can be done safely, even in the pandemic, when strict adherence to Covid 19 precautions for both patients and healthcare workers.
ABSTRACT
Objective: Health workers are generally the group at highest risk of contagion in pandemics, which result in physical and mental burnout in them. Ear, nose, and throat (ENT) physicians are at severe risk both as patients presenting to ENT clinics are potential carriers of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and because of procedures producing aerosols during upper airway examination. In this study, we aimed to examine the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on anxiety, stress, and insomnia in ENT physicians. Methods: A hundred and three ENT physicians working in various provinces of Turkey were included in the study. The study data were collected using an online questionnaire. In addition to questions involving participants' demographic characteristics, the questionnaire also contained the Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale (GAD-7), the Insomnia Severity Index (ISI), and the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS). Results: Anxiety, stress, and insomnia scores were statistically significantly higher in female physicians than in men. No statistically significant variation was observed in terms of physicians' age groups, possession of children, or presence of chronic disease. Significantly higher anxiety was determined in physicians working for 16-25 years than in those working for one to five years. The physicians' anxiety levels also highly correlated with insomnia and stress levels. No significant association was observed between insomnia and stress levels. Conclusion: The physicians' mean scores indicated mild anxiety, clinically insignificant insomnia, and moderate levels of stress. In addition, in agreement with the previous literature, anxiety, insomnia, and stress levels were significantly higher in women than in men.
ABSTRACT
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has led to a global pandemic that has also challenged the management of various other life-threatening conditions, such as malignant disorders. In this study, we present the clinical features and treatment outcomes of twenty-seven COVID-19 positive patients with leukemia across seven different centers in Istanbul. From March 1st to December 31st 2020, 116 patients were diagnosed with acute leukemia. Thirty-two cases with acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL), 82 cases with acute myeloid leukemia (AML), and 2 cases with mixed phenotype acute leukemia (MPAL) were identified. Of the 27 patients with the COVID-19 infection, seven patients had ALL, 19 patients had AML and one patient had MPAL. The mortality rate was 37% among the patients with AML, whereas there were no deaths in the ALL group. The mortality rate of AML patients with the COVID-19 infection was higher compared to cases without the infection (P<0.05). We could not detect any significant difference in the ALL cohort. This study, which includes one of the largest acute leukemia series in literature proved that acute myeloid leukemia patients with the COVID-19 infection have worse outcomes than patients without the infection. The high mortality among patients with acute leukemias hospitalized with COVID-19 highlight the need for aggres-sive infection prevention, increased surveillance and protective isolation and even modification of the therapy, in case of minimal residual disease (MRD) negativity.