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2022-RA-1658-ESGO Epidemy and war: lessons of cancer patients in Ukraine
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  1. Olena Postupalenko and
  2. Kateryna Kharchenko
  1. Department of minimally invasive surgery, Kyiv City Clinical Oncology Center, Kyiv, Ukraine

Abstract

Introduction/Background Epidemy of Covid-19 and further war in Ukraine have brought a lot of difficulties for diagnosis and treatment cancer patients.

Methodology Analyze of experience of treatment oncogynaecology patients during Covid-19 epidemy and at the beggining of the war.

Results During Covid-19 epidemy there was a shift of social attention toward infection diseases, a lot of therapeutical and surgical departments were reorganized. Some category of patients postponed their visit to doctor because of fear to be infected in public places, others had a long period of isolation or disease. The beginning of full-scale war was more accidental, then epidemy, and had more prominent imprint on the lives of millions of Ukrainian people, among whom were cancer patients. Some of them moved to relatively more safe regions of Ukraine and continued treatment in other oncology clinic. Another moved as refuges abroad and continued treatment there. Anyway, all of them needed medical documentation, sometimes results of radiology and/or pathology examinations. It was not easy to retrieve all of that from clinic that stopped activity because of combat zone nearby, so the better situation was if all important information was pre-packed timely. The worse scenario was in the case of discontinuation or delayed start of treatment. It happens mostly because not all of them could be or not wanted to be evacuated for many reasons. It is observed a lack of information about relationship of Covid-19 epidemy and cancer biology, but the deleterious effect of war for cancer patients would be predictable.

Conclusion Oncologists are needed as well during epidemy or war. Patients should be informed about importance to continue their treatment and to keep available all key medical documentation wherever they go. Maybe, it would be resonable to create a kind standart document pack for oncology patients including its online available version.

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