Abstract PO-034: Prospective planning of radiation treatment at new patient conference during the COVID-19 Pandemic: The University of Mississippi Medical Center experience
Authors: Joseph Sanjay , Nittala Mary , Roberts Paul , King Maurice , Ahmed Hiba , Albert Ashley , Thomas Toms , Allbright Robert , Packianathan Satyaseelan , Mundra Eswarkumar , Vijayakumar Srinivasan 
Published: December 2020

Objective: To evaluate patterns of patient management in an academic Radiation Oncology department between 3/17/20 and 5/8/20 during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Background: As a response to the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic, our Radiation Oncology department instituted a number of measures to limit spread of the disease to our patients and staff. This included prospectively evaluating all new referrals for radiation treatment and determining an appropriate course of action, which if appropriate included delaying the start of radiation, hypofractionation, or using other modalities of treatment prior to start of radiation.

Methods: We analyzed data for 82 patients between 3/17/20-5/8/20 to evaluate patterns of management. The chi-squared test was used to evaluate the descriptive characteristics of the study population, with P values ≤ 0.05 considered statistically significant. One sample t-test was used to compare the statistical mean difference between sample variables. Data were analyzed using SPSS 24.0 software (IBM, Armonk, NY, USA).

Results: The data set comprised 38% Caucasians and 59% African Americans. An age breakdown revealed 12.3% below age 30, 42% between ages 30-60, and 45.7% over age of 60. When the data were analyzed by gender, we noted a significant difference by site of treatment (p=0.005) and whether immediate treatment was required or not (p=0.029). This likely reflects gender-driven differences in cancer site with patients diagnosed with prostate cancer getting LHRH agonist therapy prior to start of radiation. Hypofractionated radiation schedules were used in 2 patients with cord compression early during the study period compared to 3 patients who received standard fractionation later, and one person elected to go straight to hospice care (p=0.002). Of patients for heterotopic ossification prophylaxis, 3/14 declined radiation and one was over the weight limit of the radiation table (p=0.000). 41% of patients were inpatients. No patients developed COVID-19 during our study period.

Conclusion: A prospective evaluation of new patient referrals may have helped mitigate the spread of COVID-19 at our Radiation Oncology facility. This is one of several prospective measures that our department took to protect patients and staff.

Citation Format: Sanjay Joseph, Mary Nittala, Paul Roberts, Maurice King, Hiba Ahmed, Ashley Albert, Toms Thomas, Robert Allbright, Satyaseelan Packianathan, Eswarkumar Mundra, Srinivasan Vijayakumar. Prospective planning of radiation treatment at new patient conference during the COVID-19 Pandemic: The University of Mississippi Medical Center experience [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Virtual Meeting: COVID-19 and Cancer; 2020 Jul 20-22. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Clin Cancer Res 2020;26(18_Suppl):Abstract nr PO-034.