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

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 201...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: 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
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2021-10-01
Series:Cancers
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6694/13/21/5276
Description
Summary: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, <i>p</i> = 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, <i>p</i> < 0.0001). A total of 977 patients underwent adjuvant intravesical therapy after primary or secondary resection, with a similar distribution across the two groups (<i>n</i> = 453, 86% vs. <i>n</i> = 388, 86.2%). However, the proportion of the patients who underwent maintenance significantly differed (79.5% vs. 60.4%, <i>p</i> < 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.
ISSN:2072-6694