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COVID-19 PANDEMIC IMPACT ON RADIOTHERAPY IN PATIENTS WITH HEAD AND NECK CANCER
Libri Oncologici ; 50(SUPPL 1):108-109, 2022.
Article in English | EMBASE | ID: covidwho-1894066
ABSTRACT

Introduction:

The COVID-19 pandemic has a significant impact on the primary, secondary and tertiary levels of the health system. In a low-middle income countries such as Bosnia and Herzegovina, ensuring optimal oncology care was challenging even before the COVID-19 pandemic. Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, there was a warning of the possible impact of worsening mortality and/ or morbidity due to delayed diagnosis and suboptimal treatment.1 The COVID 19 pandemic has impact on reducing the number of patients treated with radiotherapy.2 The aim of our study was to analyze the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on radiotherapy in a patient with head and neck cancer who were treated with radiotherapy in a tertiary health care facility.

Methods:

We analyzed data from the institutional databases for radiotherapy of the Oncology Department at University Clinical Hospital Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina. We performed data extraction for patients with head and neck cancer who were treated with primary or adjuvant radiotherapy with or without chemotherapy from January 2018 to December 2021.

Results:

A total of 114 patients were treated with radiotherapy for head and neck cancer in the pre- COVID-19 period (2018-2019) and COVID-19 period (2020-2021). There were more patients treated with radiotherapy in the preCOVID19 period, 64 (56%) compared to the COVID19 period, 50 (44%). In the COVID 19 period, the number of patients treated with radiotherapy was reduced by 22% compared to the preCOVID19 period.

Conclusion:

A decline innumber of patients treated with radiotherapy in the COVID 19 period was detected. Health system optimization and education of the general population about the negative indirect impact of COVID 19 on the health system, diagnosis and treatment of cancer is needed.
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Collection: Databases of international organizations Database: EMBASE Type of study: Experimental Studies Language: English Journal: Libri Oncologici Year: 2022 Document Type: Article

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Collection: Databases of international organizations Database: EMBASE Type of study: Experimental Studies Language: English Journal: Libri Oncologici Year: 2022 Document Type: Article