Dados do Trabalho

Título

THE IMPACT OF THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC ON BLADDER CANCER CARE IN A TERTIARY ONCOLOGICAL CENTER

Introdução e Objetivo

The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in delays in the treatment of patients with urological malignancies. The management of bladder cancer (BC) in particular poses a significant challenge given the recurrent nature of the disease and the intense follow-up regime required for many cases. The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the presentation and operative management of BC in a tertiary oncological latin american center.

Método

This is a retrospective cohort study we analyzed all patients that had their first consultation between January 2019 and January 2022 and the medical records were evaluated from January 2019 to July 2023 to obtain patient demographics, procedure types, resection or excision, grade, and stage of BC. Cases were divided into three groups: period one (pre-COVID between January 2019 and February 2020) and period two (COVID between March 2020 and January 2022). The total number of registered patients, gender, age, stage, and grade were compared in the targeted periods.

Resultados

We analyzed  390 patients with a mean age of  67 (13.10), 284 men, and 106 women.  The comorbidities were not significantly different in non-COVID and COVID pandemic periods. The number of procedures performed decreased during the Covid pandemic, the tumor stage was significantly different (P-value<.001) with higher stages in the COVID pandemic period. We had 28 (7%) patients with metastatic disease in the first consultation in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic and 14 (3.5%) patients metastatic in the last period of follow-up, which shows the impact of lack of oncological care in this period.

Conclusão

The staging of bladder cancer and TURBT were impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic with higher stages compared to the non-COVID period.