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106046

Changes in Cancer Treatment Practice During the COVID-19 Pandemic: An Egyptian Multi-Institution Study

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Last updated: 22 Jan 2023

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Abstract

Background: In many countries, especially the lower-income ones, the COVID-19 pandemic had a significant negative impact on the services provided to cancer patients. This necessitated setting guidelines for the management of cancer during the pandemic and resulted in changes in its practice.
Aim:To explore the change in practice of cancer treatment in cancer centers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Egypt, a lower-income country.
Methods: Oncologists from six geographically-distributed Egyptian cancer centers were invited to complete a semi-structured questionnaire evaluating their cancer treatment practice changes. This included systemic anti-cancer treatment, radiotherapy, surgery and supportive and palliative care. 
Results: Regarding systemic chemotherapy, there was a switch from weekly to 3-4 weekly schedules, from longer to shorter courses and from parenteral to oral administration whenever possible in the majority of centers. Single agents were encouraged and regimens more likely to cause neutropenia were avoided. Hormonal and palliative care treatments were prescribed for longer durations.  For many indications, especially the palliative, a switch to hypofractionated radiotherapy regimens was adopted. Excluding emergencies, surgeries were postponed in many centers. The number of elective hospital admissions was minimized and the time interval of follow up visits was prolonged. The majority used phone calls to follow up patients.
Conclusion: The COVID-19 pandemic has been associated with many changes in cancer treatment practice in Egyptian cancer care facilities. These changes are likely to minimize the risk of exposure of patients and health care professionals and to utilize the limited resources in a better way.

DOI

10.21608/resoncol.2020.34611.1103

Keywords

cancer treatment, COVID-19, Egypt, Lower-income, pandemic, Practice change

Authors

First Name

Mohamed

Last Name

Abolkasem

MiddleName

A.

Affiliation

Clinical Oncology Department, Kasr Al-Ainy School of Medicine, Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt , Aswan Cancer Center, Aswan, Egypt

Email

mohamedonco@yahoo.com

City

-

Orcid

-

First Name

Ahmed

Last Name

Abdelhafeez

MiddleName

A. M.

Affiliation

Clinical Oncology Department, Kasr Al-Ainy School of Medicine, Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt , Aswan Cancer Center, Aswan, Egypt

Email

hhaboda@hotmail.com

City

-

Orcid

-

First Name

Moustafa

Last Name

Al-Daly

MiddleName

-

Affiliation

Clinical Oncology Department, Kasr Al-Ainy School of Medicine, Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt , Aswan Cancer Center, Aswan, Egypt

Email

mostafadaly@yahoo.com

City

-

Orcid

-

First Name

Mohamed

Last Name

Alm El-Din

MiddleName

-

Affiliation

Department of Clinical Oncology, Faculty of Medicine, Tanta University, Tanta, Egypt

Email

mohamedalmeldin@yahoo.com

City

-

Orcid

-

First Name

Rasha

Last Name

Elsaka

MiddleName

-

Affiliation

Clinical Oncology and Nuclear Medicine Department, Faculty of Medicine, Alexandria University, Alexandria, Egypt

Email

rashaelsaka@yahoo.com

City

Tanta

Orcid

-

First Name

Ahmed

Last Name

Hassan

MiddleName

-

Affiliation

Department of Clinical Oncology, Faculty of Medicine, Beni-Suef University, Beni-Suef, Egypt

Email

hassanv22000@yahoo.com

City

Beni-suef

Orcid

-

First Name

Abdel-Motaleb

Last Name

Mohamed

MiddleName

-

Affiliation

Clinical Oncology Department, Faculty of Medicine, Zagazig University, Zagazig, Egypt

Email

abdelmotalebmohamed@yahoo.com

City

Zagazig

Orcid

-

First Name

Sherif

Last Name

Mokhtar

MiddleName

M.

Affiliation

Breast Reconstruction Unit, General Surgery Department, Kasr Al-Ainy School of Medicine, Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt

Email

sherifmokhtar@yahoo.com

City

-

Orcid

-

First Name

Noha

Last Name

Ibrahim

MiddleName

Y.

Affiliation

Clinical Oncology Department, Kasr Al-Ainy School of Medicine, Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt

Email

dr.noha11@hotmail.com

City

-

Orcid

-

Volume

16

Article Issue

2

Related Issue

18448

Issue Date

2020-12-01

Receive Date

2020-07-04

Publish Date

2020-12-01

Page Start

42

Page End

47

Print ISSN

2357-0687

Online ISSN

2357-0695

Article File

RESONCOL_Volume 16_Issue 2_Pages 42-47.pdf

PDF . 183.2kB

Link

https://resoncol.journals.ekb.eg/article_106046.html

Detail API

https://resoncol.journals.ekb.eg/service?article_code=106046

Order

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Type

Original Article

Type Code

200

Publication Type

Journal

Publication Title

Research in Oncology

Publication Link

https://resoncol.journals.ekb.eg/

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Details

Type

Article

Created At

22 Jan 2023