Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on a daily-based outpatient treatment routine: experience of a radiotherapy department of a tertiary public/university hospital in Brazil.

Autor:	Carvalho HA; Instituto do Cancer do Estado de Sao Paulo (ICESP), Instituto de Radiologia (InRad), Serviço de Radioterapia, Hospital das Clinicas (HCFMUSP), Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade de Sao Paulo, SP, BR., Vasconcelos KGMC; Instituto do Cancer do Estado de Sao Paulo (ICESP), Instituto de Radiologia (InRad), Serviço de Radioterapia, Hospital das Clinicas (HCFMUSP), Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade de Sao Paulo, SP, BR., Gomes HC; Instituto do Cancer do Estado de Sao Paulo (ICESP), Instituto de Radiologia (InRad), Serviço de Radioterapia, Hospital das Clinicas (HCFMUSP), Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade de Sao Paulo, SP, BR., Salvajoli JV; Instituto do Cancer do Estado de Sao Paulo (ICESP), Instituto de Radiologia (InRad), Serviço de Radioterapia, Hospital das Clinicas (HCFMUSP), Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade de Sao Paulo, SP, BR.
Jazyk:	angličtina
Zdroj:	Clinics (Sao Paulo, Brazil) [Clinics (Sao Paulo)] 2020 Nov 06; Vol. 75, pp. e2298. Date of Electronic Publication: 2020 Nov 06 (Print Publication: 2020).
DOI:	10.6061/clinics/2020/e2298
Abstrakt:	Objectives: To report the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on patient attendance at a radiotherapy department two months after the implementation of specific policies regarding the pandemic. Methods: The proposed treatment schemes, favoring hypofractionated schedules, and COVID-19 management strategies regarding irradiation are presented. Attendance after two months of implementation of these policies was measured and compared with that during the same period in 2019. Results: A 10% reduction in the number of treated patients and a 26% reduction in the number of sessions was observed. The main impact was a decrease in the treatment of benign diseases and gastrointestinal tumors, with a general increase in breast cancer treatments. Eighteen (1.7%) patients were confirmed as having COVID-19 during radiotherapy in April and May 2020, three of whom were hospitalized, and one patient died because of COVID-19. Among the 18 patients, 12 had their treatments interrupted for at least 15 days from symptom appearance. Conclusion: There was a decrease in the number of treated patients in our radiotherapy department, with a greater decrease in the total number of sessions. This indicated, overall, a smaller number of fractions/patients treated, despite our efforts to maintain the treatment routine. We had several patients who were infected with COVID-19 and one related death during treatment in the first few months of the pandemic in São Paulo Brazil.
Databáze:	MEDLINE
Externí odkaz:	Zobrazit plný text záznamu