Abstract
OBJECTIVE: COVID-19 is a global public health emergency. The increasing spread of COVID-19 presents challenges for the clinical care of patients with gynecological tumors. The Multicenter Italian Trials in Ovarian cancer and gynecologic malignancies (MITO) performed a survey to evaluate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on medical treatment of gynecological cancer, with a focus on chemotherapy and oral treatment with poly(ADP)-ribose polymerase inhibitors (PARP-i).
METHODS: The survey consisted of a self-administered online questionnaire, sent via email between November 2020 and January 2021 to all members of MITO group.
RESULTS: Forty-nine centers completed the questionnaire. The majority of respondents (83%) use screening tests to determine COVID-19 status in patients who were to undergo chemotherapy or oral medications. All respondents to our survey continued cancer therapy in patients who tested negative for COVID-19 during the pandemic. Seventy-three percent of respondents declared they stopped treatment with chemotherapy or PARP-i only after a positive swab and resumed therapy when negative tests were confirmed.
CONCLUSIONS: COVID-19 positivity impacted patterns of treatment in patients diagnosed with ovarian cancer within the MITO group. Further investigations are needed to evaluate whether these modifications influence oncological clinical outcomes.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 1363-1368 |
Number of pages | 6 |
Journal | International journal of gynecological cancer : official journal of the International Gynecological Cancer Society |
Volume | 31 |
Issue number | 10 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Oct 2021 |
Keywords
- Administration, Oral
- Adult
- Aged
- Antineoplastic Agents/therapeutic use
- COVID-19/complications
- COVID-19 Testing/statistics & numerical data
- Female
- Genital Neoplasms, Female/complications
- Health Care Surveys
- Health Services Accessibility/statistics & numerical data
- Humans
- Italy
- Male
- Middle Aged
- Poly(ADP-ribose) Polymerase Inhibitors/therapeutic use
- Practice Patterns, Physicians'/statistics & numerical data
- Withholding Treatment/statistics & numerical data