Radiation Therapy for Breast Cancer During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Low Resource Countries: Consensus Statement from the Iranian Society of Radiation Oncology

Abstract

Context: COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in considerable overloading of health care systems in almost all regions of the world. Among different malignancies, breast cancer can be considered as a typical example of how the decision-making process for radiation treatment can be adapted to unusual situations. There exist several international guidelines in order to modify radiotherapy treatments during the COVID-19 pandemic, however, some of their recommendations are not applicable in regions with limited resources. In this manuscript, we provided guidance to deliver radiotherapy to patients with breast cancer during the COVID-19 pandemic based on our available nationwide resources. Evidence Acquisition: A team of expert radiation oncologists convened multidisciplinary and cross-institutional meetings and reviewed the major internationally published guidelines and relevant literature in the field of breast radiotherapy during the COVID-19 pandemic in order to establish recommendations for the safe application of radiation regimens based on the national limited resources. Results: Practical guidance in order to deliver radiotherapy to patients with breast cancer during the COVID-19 pandemic based on available nationwide resources was developed. Conclusions: Many of the international recommendations on the breast cancer radiotherapy during COVID-19 outbreak are not applicable in countries with limited resources. Therefore, modifying the guidelines based on the available resources is mandatory in order to achieve the best possible results.