PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - NIEDER, CARSTEN
AU  - HAUKLAND, ELLINOR C.
AU  - MANNSAKER, BARD
AU  - YOBUTA, ROSALBA
TI  - Palliative Radiotherapy During the Last Month of Life: Have COVID-19 Recommendations Led to Reduced Utilization?
AID  - 10.21873/invivo.12304
DP  - 2021 Jan 01
TA  - In Vivo
PG  - 649--652
VI  - 35
IP  - 1
4099  - http://iv.iiarjournals.org/content/35/1/649.short
4100  - http://iv.iiarjournals.org/content/35/1/649.full
SO  - In Vivo2021 Jan 01; 35
AB  - Background/Aim: The study aimed to evaluate practice changes in the time period of the early wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Patients and Methods: This was a retrospective single institution study. We defined palliative radiotherapy (PRT) initiated before Saturday, March 14th as pre-COVID and PRT initiated later as during-COVID (through June 30th). Results: National COVID-19 recommendations led to a significant decrease in PRT with 10 or more fractions, while re-irradiation and radiotherapy during the final 30 days of life were equally common before and after these recommendations had been issued in March 2020. Conclusion: Rapid adoption of modified PRT regimens was feasible. However, the challenge of overtreatment in the final phase of the disease, due to inaccurate survival prediction, persisted.