Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)
significantly affects patients with any type of chronic disease, especially the ones with neoplasm. The aim of this study was to
investigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the
weekly number of external beam (EB) radiotherapy (RT)
(EBRT) fractions and monthly brachytherapy (BT) applications
without intentional hypofractionation. We also investigated how
the pandemic affected the number of EBRT patients younger
or older than 70 years. Methods. The Affidea Radiotherapy
Center, Banja Luka (BL RT Center), provides RT to the population (1.15 million) of the Republic of Srpska (Bosnia and Herzegovina). We analyzed the period of 14 months before the onset
and the same period during COVID-19. Results. The average
weekly number of EBRT fractions from January 2019 to the
end of February 2020 was 680.5 [standard deviation (SD) 67.4],
and from March 2020 to the end of April 2021, it was 617.1 (SD
96.4). During April 2020, the weekly number of the EBRT decreased by 67.9% compared to the same period in 2019, while
in March 2021, it fell by 42.4%. Paired samples t-test showed
that the occurrence of the COVID-19 pandemic had a statistically significant effect [t(60) = 4.627, p < 0.05] on the reduction in the number of weekly EBRT fractions in the BL RT
Center. When comparing number of EBRT patients over 70
years old to those fewer than 70 years old, the decrease was
16.3% vs. 1.6%, respectively. The Wilcoxon signed-rank test
revealed that the COVID-19 pandemic had a statistically significant effect (Z = -2.42, p = 0.016) on reducing the number
of monthly BT applications. Conclusion. A statistically significant decline in EBRT and BT was observed in BL RT Center
for the first fourteen months of the pandemic. The "waves" of
the pandemic "closed" the medical wards needed for the diagnosis and therapy of oncology patients and converted them into COVID-19 wards. Therefore, some oncology patients who
would have had an indication for RT never received it.
