ABSTRACT
Background/Aim: Since March 2020 when the number of COVID-19 positive patients reported a fulminant increase in Romania, reorganisation of the medical services took place in order to provide the possibility of treating increasing number of cases with this pathology and to diminish as much as possible the number of COVID-19 related deaths. The aim of the current paper is to analyse the outcomes of 273 patients with gynaecological cancers who could not be treated in the service were they were initially addressed. Material and Method: a total number of 343 patients with gynecologic oncology disorders were addressed to "Dr. Ion Cantacuzino” hospital in Bucharest Romania and could not be treated in this unit due to the fact that it became an auxilia-ry service for obstetrical COVID positive patients. Results: complete follow up was possible in 273 cases 87 patients were redistributed to other services of gynecologic oncology and received their surgical treatment as planned, 141 patients received their surgical treatment in other clinics after a mean delay of six months while 45 cases were further submitted to oncological treatment, four of them being dead at the end of the study. Conclusions: modification of hospital structure and diminishing the oncological patients' access to oncologic surgery during COVID pandemic significantly impacted on gynecologic cancer care. © 2022, Amaltea Medical Publishing House. All rights reserved.
ABSTRACT
COVID-19 continues to be both a major medical problem and a real ethical and forensic issue, profoundly affecting both patients and health services around the world. This pandemic has produced major changes in the provision of healthcare, especially in patients with chronic conditions. The consequence has been the deviation in some medical situations from the medical guidelines and protocols in force with forensic risks for clinicians. When the criteria of professional competence are met, the civil liability ensures a protection of the health workers. Disputes can arise when there are doubts about how the medical activity was performed in safe conditions for patients, when local care decisions were made or when there are no nationally validated guidelines. In conclusion, clarifying legal concepts on the public health crisis, developing a legislative framework and appropriate means to combat it, are important desideratum on more judicious management of a crisis situation.
ABSTRACT
The fertility preservation (FP) field has developed in the two decades and offers women the possibility to have genetic children at some point in life. Fertility preservation is urgent by definition, performed for social reasons or medical indications, such as impending gonadotoxic therapy or radical gynaecological surgery. One year after the pandemic was declared, the COVID-19 infection imposed several restrictions and limited access to health care for the infertile couple. Ovarian stimulation is a pharmacological treatment used to induce the development of ovarian follicles;FP guidelines provide different options for ovarian stimulation. We performed a systematic search on fertility preservation (FP) procedures during the COVID-19 pandemic using the keywords: FP, ovarian stimulation, assisted reproduction techniques (ART), and COVID-19. In order to update the different treatment strategies in ovarian stimulation on fertility preservation studied in the last ten years, we searched for randomized clinical trials (RCTs) focused on therapeutic agents used in current protocols, gonadotropins, gonadotropin releasing hormone (GnRH), clomiphene citrate (CC), letrozole, androgens, metformin, tamoxifen, glucocorticoids, aspirin, coenzyme Q10, and sildenafil. Fertility may be influenced by SARS-CoV-2 infection - especially in men;until more evidence confirms the effects on fertility, patients with COVID-19 positive should delay FP procedures if possible. Access to fertility conservation services decreased during the analysed period due to the medical services restrictions and the reorientation of medical resources on patients with COVID-19, without major changes in the current therapeutic protocols. In terms of pharmacotherapy in ovarian stimulation (OS) procedures, letrozole is first line therapy, superior to CC for OS. Similar ovulation and pregnancy rate can be obtained in letrozole - induced ovulation compared to gonadotropin protocol. Adjuvant therapies may be used for OS but lack proven efficacy. Further studies on adjuvant therapies and complementary support are needed, to ensure optimal condition in assisted reproductive interventions for fertility preservation, especially in gonadotoxic therapies.