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The management of patients with COVID infection has placed great pressure on the healthcare systems around the world. The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of the COVID pandemic on the treatment outcomes of patients with rectal cancer by comparing them to those of patients with the same diagnosis in the pre-pandemic period.
Retrospective data analysis of patients undergoing multimodal treatment for rectal cancer at the four university hospitals during the COVID pandemic — and the 2-year pre-pandemic period — A total of patients in the pre-pandemic period and in the pandemic period with rectal cancer were included in the study.
The demographic and clinical characteristics of patients in both study periods were comparable, as was the spectrum of surgical procedures. Based on these results, COVID had no effect on the postoperative morbidity and mortality in patients undergoing surgery for rectal cancer.
Long-course RT was predominantly offered in the pre-pandemic period, short-course RT during the pandemic. Keywords: rectal cancer, COVID, multimodal treatment, complications, morbidity, neoadjuvant radiotherapy. The coronavirus disease COVID pandemic has had a major impact on the healthcare services worldwide.
