The delay in the diagnosis and treatment of newly diagnosed bladder cancer patients during COVID 19 pandemic

BACKGROUND: To evaluate the newly diagnosed bladder cancer(BC) patients during the pandemic period and compare them with the corresponding last4 years. OBJECTIVES: To document the time schedules of BC patient evaluation and define the possible delays and investigate the reasons. METHODS: Newly diagnosed BC patients who underwent transurethral resection of bladder tumour in the last5 years were retrospectively included to study. The patients were divided into 5 groups. Group-1 was composed of patients diagnosed betweenMarch, 1,2016 -March-1,2017. The patients who were diagnosed in the further corresponding years formed group 2,3 and 4. The last group(Group-5) was composed of patients who were diagnosed during the pandemic period which was between March,1,2020 and March,1,2021. The clinicodemographic properties and diagnostic time schedules of the patients were compared between the groups. RESULTS: There were56 patients in Group-1,60 patients in Group-2,61 patients in Group-3,68 patients in Group-4, and 58 patients inGroup-5. The mean hospital admission period was102.5±179.0days during the pandemic period which ranged between24.5± 32.0 and38.3±69.1days before thepandemic.(p=0.002)The diagnosis-anesthesia period was significantly higher during the pandemic pandemic period.(p=0.034) CONCLUSIONS: The pandemic period has caused some delays in the diagnosis and treatment of BC patients. Telemonitoring systems may be useful to prevent the possible diagnostic and treatment delays for newly diagnosed BC patients.