How much time do we spend for a treatment? Analysis in a public radiation oncology department
Elias Gomis Selles,
Spain
PD-0075
Abstract
How much time do we spend for a treatment? Analysis in a public radiation oncology department
Authors: Elias Gomis Selles1, Roberto de Haro Piedra1, Juan José Gordito Soler1, Imanol Paguey Garrido1, Pedro Romero Pareja1, Jerónimo Pachón Ibáñez1, David Miguel Muñoz Carmona1
1Virgen del Rocio University Hospital, Radiation Oncology, Sevilla, Spain
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Purpose or Objective
The aim of this research is to analyze the delays between each step of radiation treatment preparation.
Material and Methods
We developed an observational study selecting patients treated in the Radiation Oncology department of a Spanish public hospital were selected retrospectively from January 2017 to February 2022 through an intrahospital management tool. U-Mann Whitney test was used to study our data, atypical data and patients with incomplete values are eliminated.
Results
A total of 14164 patients were treated during this period. Due to lack of information or atypical values, only 8448 patients were selected.
It was spent a median of 9 days (interquartile range, IQR, 10) from treatment decision until the first delineation (4 days for simulation CT and 5 for delineation), 8 days (IQR 8) for physics dosimetry, and 9 days to the first treatment day (IQR 8). A median of 34 days (IQR 26) was employed to start the treatment.
We found an asymmetric distribution of the number of patients throughout the year, reaching maximums in June and August. However, it was found a significant increase (p-value < 0.05) in total delay in December (median 37 vs 35 days) or during the summer months (34 vs 31 days).
When analyzing the data of patients treated during the COVID-19 pandemic (2020 and 2021), we found no significant changes compared to the previous period (2018 and 2019).
Conclusion
Our results suggest that vacation rest periods may have a negative impact on the quality of care. Therefore, we believe that it is essential to carry out single-center studies to analyze its impact and reduce it. No significant changes were experienced, neither in the delays nor in the number of patients treated during the COVID-19 pandemic, maintaining the same care activity as in previous periods.
The main limitation of this study is the potential bias in the analysis of delays due to pathologies, as is the case of prostate cancer, which is susceptible to prolonged delays due to possible periods of hormone therapy prior to treatment.
New strategies such as promoting the single act or self-contouring software approaches could be possible strategies to reduce delays.