Academic and community urology centers participating in a pragmatic clinical trial in non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer completed monthly surveys assessing restrictions in aspects of bladder cancer care due to the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency. Our objective was to describe pandemic-related restrictions on bladder cancer care.
We invited 32 sites participating in a multicenter pragmatic bladder cancer trial to complete monthly surveys distributed through REDCap beginning in May 2020. These surveys queried sites on whether they were experiencing restrictions in the use of elective surgery, transurethral resection of bladder tumors (TURBT), radical cystectomy, office cystoscopy, and intravesical bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) availability. Responses were collated with descriptive statistics.
Of 32 eligible sites, 21 sites had at least a 50% monthly response rate over the study period and were included in the analysis. Elective surgery was paused at 76% of sites in May 2020, 48% of sites in January 2021, and 52% of sites in January 2022. Over those same periods, coinciding with COVID-19 incidence waves, TURBT was restricted at 10%, 14%, and 14% of sites, respectively, radical cystectomy was restricted at 10%, 14%, and 19% of sites, respectively, and cystoscopy was restricted at 33%, 0%, and 10% of sites, respectively.
Bladder cancer care was minimally restricted compared with more pronounced restrictions seen in general elective surgeries during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Urologic oncology. 2023 Dec 11 [Epub ahead of print]
John L Gore, Kristin Follmer, Jason Reynolds, Michael Nash, Christopher B Anderson, James W F Catto, Karim Chamie, Siamak Daneshmand, Rian Dickstein, Tullika Garg, Scott M Gilbert, Thomas J Guzzo, Ashish M Kamat, Max R Kates, Brian R Lane, Yair Lotan, Ahmed M Mansour, Viraj A Master, Jeffrey S Montgomery, David S Morris, Kenneth G Nepple, Brock B O'Neil, Sanjay Patel, Kamal Pohar, Sima P Porten, Stephen B Riggs, Alexander Sankin, Kristen R Scarpato, Neal D Shore, Gary D Steinberg, Seth A Strope, Jennifer M Taylor, Bryan A Comstock, Larry G Kessler, Erika M Wolff, Angela B Smith
Department of Urology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA. Electronic address: ., Department of Urology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA., Department of Biostatistics, University of Washington, Seattle, WA., Department of Urology, Columbia University Medical Center, New York, NY., Department of Urology, Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS (National Health Service) Foundation Trust, Sheffield, United Kingdom., Department of Urology, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, CA., Department of Urology, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA., University of Maryland Medical Center, Baltimore Washington Medical Center, Glen Burnie, MD; Chesapeake Urology, Baltimore, MD., Department of Urology, Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, Hershey, PA., Division of Genitourinary Oncology, H.Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute, Tampa FL., Division of Urology, Department of Surgery, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA., Department of Urology, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX., Brady Urological Institute, Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, Baltimore, MD; Johns Hopkins Greenberg Bladder Cancer Institute, Baltimore, MD., Division of Urology, Spectrum Health, Grand Rapids, MI., Department of Urology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX., Department of Urology, University of Texas Health, San Antonio, TX., Department of Urology and Winship Cancer Institute, Emory University, Atlanta, GA., Department of Urology, Michigan Medicine, Ann Arbor, MI., Urology Associates, PC, Nashville, TN., Department of Urology, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA., Division of Urology, Huntsman Cancer Institute, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT., Department of Urology, University of Oklahoma, Oklahoma City, OK., Department of Urology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH., Department of Urology, UCSF School of Medicine, San Francisco, CA., Department of Urology, Levine Cancer Institute, Atrium Health, Charlotte, NC., Department of Urology, Montefiore Medical Center, Bronx, NY., Department of Urology, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN., Carolina Urologic Research Center, Myrtle Beach, SC., Department of Urology, Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, IL., Urology of St. Louis, St. Louis, MO., Michael E. DeBakey VAMC, Scott Department of Urology, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX., Department of Health Systems and Population Health, School of Public Health, University of Washington, Seattle, WA., Department of Urology, School of Medicine, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC.