Archives of Medical Science (Jan 2023)

Not as black as it is painted? The impact of the first wave of COVID-19 pandemic on surgical treatment of urological cancer patients in Poland – a cross-country experience

  • Piotr Zapała,
  • Aleksander Ślusarczyk,
  • Paweł Rajwa,
  • Mikołaj Przydacz,
  • Wojciech Krajewski,
  • Bartosz Dybowski,
  • Przemysław Kubik,
  • Błażej Kuffel,
  • Maciej Przudzik,
  • Rafał Osiecki,
  • Remigiusz Stamirowski,
  • Łukasz Zapała,
  • Mieszko Kozikowski,
  • Dominik Chorągwicki,
  • Magdalena Szymańska,
  • Paweł Kiełb,
  • Bartosz Małkiewicz,
  • Jacek Zostawa,
  • Marek Roslan,
  • Joanna Zajączkowska,
  • Marcin Jarzemski,
  • Bartosz Brzoszczyk,
  • Piotr Petrasz,
  • Piotr Jarzemski,
  • Romuald Zdrojowy,
  • Jakub Dobruch,
  • Andrzej Paradysz,
  • Tomasz Drewa,
  • Piotr Chłosta,
  • Piotr Radziszewski

DOI
https://doi.org/10.5114/aoms/130927
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 19, no. 1
pp. 107 – 115

Abstract

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Introduction In the majority of Western European countries, the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has led to a dramatic reduction in urooncological surgeries. Our objective was to evaluate the impact of the pandemic on volume and patterns of urooncological surgery in Poland. Material and methods This is a retrospective analysis of 10 urologic centres in Poland. Data regarding major oncological procedures performed after the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak (March 15, 2020 – May 31, 2020) were evaluated and compared with data from the respective period in 2019. Results Between March 15, 2020 and May 31, 2020, a total of 968 oncological procedures were performed in participating centres. When compared to the respective period in 2019 (1063 procedures) the overall number of surgeries declined by 8.9%. The reduction was observed for transurethral resection of bladder tumour (TURBT) (20.1%) and partial nephrectomies (PN) (16.5%). Surgical activity considering radical nephrectomy (RN), nephroureterectomy (NU), and radical prostatectomy (RP) remained relatively unchanged, whereas radical cystectomy (RC) burden showed a significant increase (90.9%). Characteristics of patients treated with TURBT, RC, NU, PN, and RN did not differ significantly between the compared periods, whereas RP in the COVID-19 period was performed more frequently in patients with a higher grade group (p = 0.028) and positive digital rectal examination (p = 0.007). Conclusions Surgical activity for urological cancers in Poland has been maintained during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Polish strategy in the initial period of the COVID-19 crisis mirrors the scenario of hard initial lockdown followed by adaptive lockdown, during which oncological care remained undisrupted and did not require particular priority triage.

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