Approach to cancer patients of a clinical oncology surgery in Turkey during COVID-19 Pandemic

Objective: Covid-19 disease has increased rapidly since the day it appeared (December 2019), and has turned into an unpreventable pandemic all over the world, especially in Europe. As it spreads rapidly and started to show its effects in a short time, there was not enough time to conduct and implement effective studies on the subject. After the first case coronavirus was detected at 10 March 2020 in Turkey, various guidelines were published. Surgeons, especially regarding the safe treatment of patients in cancer surgery, have tried to find the way in which they can be the most beneficial for the patients in their clinics. In this study, we aimed to share the approach and results of our own clinic to the cancer patients during Covid-19 pandemics.Method: Between March 10 - July 15 2020, 52 patients who were operated in Sivas Cumhuriyet University Faculty of Medicine Surgical Oncology Department for oncological reasons were analyzed retrospectively. The analyzed patient data included tumor location, patient age, gender, surgery technique, histopathological of specimen, stage and whether neoadjuvant therapy treatment was applied.Results: 52 patients were operated with a diagnosis of cancer in our clinic during the pandemic. 25 patients were female and 27 were male, and their mean age was 60.45 years. None of the patients showed signs and symptoms of Covid-19 infection before, during and after the operation.Conclusions: In hospitals not used as a pandemic hospital, Covid-19 negative oncological patients can be operated safely without affecting the pandemic by providing suitable conditions.