How long and by whom it should be postponed to perform a prostate biopsy during Covid-19 pandemic? – A comparison of prostate cancer diagnostic procedures between 2019 and 2020 in the Jahn Ferenc South-Pest Hospital
DOI: 10.22591/magyurol.2022.2.gatizs.76
Authors:
Gáti Zsolt dr., Tenke Péter dr.
Jahn Ferenc Dél-Pesti Kórház, Urológiai Osztály, Budapest (osztályvezető: Tenke Péter dr.)
Summary
The European Association of Urology recommends when should be postponed a prostate biopsy during the Covid-19 pandemic. It will try to clarify which are those risk groups, when a prostate biopsy should be performed. It’s a hard and stressful task to separate these patients during the pandemic. There are several aspects to choose the patients for a biopsy, because in the hospitals to become infected by coronavirus is a real danger. The cost-benefit of an appearance in the hospital is really hard to evaluate. There are four priority categories according to the guideline: low, intermediate, high and emergency. The basis of the categories is the rectal digital examination, PSA level and the metastatic symptoms.
In 2019 in our institute the number of prostate biopsy was almost 250, in 2020 after March 11th – the start of the national emergency status – only 61 procedures was performed. In this period the PSA level was three times higher than the same period in 2019. With this retrospective survey try to estimate how many patient with prostate cancer was undiagnosed.