Cancers (Oct 2021)

The Impact of SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic on Time to Primary, Secondary Resection and Adjuvant Intravesical Therapy in Patients with High-Risk Non-Muscle Invasive Bladder Cancer: A Retrospective Multi-Institutional Cohort Analysis

  • Matteo Ferro,
  • Francesco Del Giudice,
  • Giuseppe Carrieri,
  • Gian Maria Busetto,
  • Luigi Cormio,
  • Rodolfo Hurle,
  • Roberto Contieri,
  • Davide Arcaniolo,
  • Alessandro Sciarra,
  • Martina Maggi,
  • Francesco Porpiglia,
  • Matteo Manfredi,
  • Cristian Fiori,
  • Alessandro Antonelli,
  • Alessandro Tafuri,
  • Pierluigi Bove,
  • Carlo Terrone,
  • Marco Borghesi,
  • Elisabetta Costantini,
  • Ester Iliano,
  • Emanuele Montanari,
  • Luca Boeri,
  • Giorgio Ivan Russo,
  • Massimo Madonia,
  • Alessandro Tedde,
  • Alessandro Veccia,
  • Claudio Simeone,
  • Giovanni Liguori,
  • Carlo Trombetta,
  • Eugenio Brunocilla,
  • Riccardo Schiavina,
  • Fabrizio Dal Moro,
  • Marco Racioppi,
  • Mihai Dorin Vartolomei,
  • Nicola Longo,
  • Lorenzo Spirito,
  • Felice Crocetto,
  • Francesco Cantiello,
  • Rocco Damiano,
  • Savino M. Di Stasi,
  • Michele Marchioni,
  • Luigi Schips,
  • Paolo Parma,
  • Luca Carmignani,
  • Andrea Conti,
  • Francesco Soria,
  • Paolo Gontero,
  • Biagio Barone,
  • Federico Deho,
  • Emanuele Zaffuto,
  • Rocco Papalia,
  • Roberto M. Scarpa,
  • Vincenzo Pagliarulo,
  • Giuseppe Lucarelli,
  • Pasquale Ditonno,
  • Francesco Maria Gerardo Botticelli,
  • Gennaro Musi,
  • Michele Catellani,
  • Ottavio de Cobelli

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers13215276
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 13, no. 21
p. 5276

Abstract

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Background: To investigate the impact of COVID-19 outbreak on the diagnosis and treatment of non-muscle invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC). Methods: A retrospective analysis was performed using an Italian multi-institutional database of TURBT patients with high-risk urothelial NMIBC between January 2019 and February 2021, followed by Re-TURBT and/or adjuvant intravesical BCG. Results: A total of 2591 patients from 27 institutions with primary TURBT were included. Of these, 1534 (59.2%) and 1056 (40.8%) underwent TURBT before and during the COVID-19 outbreak, respectively. Time between diagnosis and TURBT was significantly longer during the COVID-19 period (65 vs. 52 days, p = 0.002). One thousand and sixty-six patients (41.1%) received Re-TURBT, 604 (56.7%) during the pre-COVID-19. The median time to secondary resection was significantly longer during the COVID-19 period (55 vs. 48 days, p n = 453, 86% vs. n = 388, 86.2%). However, the proportion of the patients who underwent maintenance significantly differed (79.5% vs. 60.4%, p < 0.0001). Conclusions: The COVID-19 pandemic represented an unprecedented challenge to our health system. Our study did not show significant differences in TURBT quality. However, a delay in treatment schedule and disease management was observed. Investigation of the oncological impacts of those differences should be advocated.

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