Effect of war on radiotherapy in Ukraine and how to help.

作者：Nataliya Kovalchuk, Ruslan Zelinskyi, Natalka Suchowerska, Yuliia Lozko, Serhii Brovchuk, Zoia Shepil, Nelya Melnitchouk, Viktor Iakovenko, Andriy Beznosenko · 发表于：Journal of Clinical Oncology · 年份：2024 · DOI：10.1200/jco.2024.42.16_suppl.1513 · 被引用次数：7 · 研究领域：Advances in Oncology and Radiotherapy、Radiation Dose and Imaging、Diversity and Career in Medicine

1513 Background: The full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24 th , 2022 brought the largest humanitarian disaster to the heart of Europe since the World War II. In this work, we describe the impact of the full-scale Russian invasion on the radiation therapy (RT) services in Ukraine and suggest how to help. Methods: We collected the information on operation of RT centers in Ukraine during the war. In addition, in 2023 an annual survey was conducted by Grigoriev Institute for Medical Radiology in Kharkiv for the IAEA DIRAC database. The survey was sent to 41 RT centers in Ukraine requesting information on equipment, staffing, and patient volume. Due to the war conditions the data provided in the survey is limited to the un-occupied territories. Results: After the initial Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2014 and occupation of Crimea and parts of Donbas, Ukraine lost access to 7 RT centers with 18 external beam radiotherapy (EBRT) machines (17% of total). Just before the full-scale invasion in 2022, there were a total of 44 Co-60 machines (57%) and 33 linear accelerators (43%) in the unoccupied territories. As a result of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, almost all RT centers suspended operation in the first weeks of war. The most challenging period for RT in Ukraine was in March when Kyiv (where 20 EBRT machines are located) was partially surrounded by the occupiers. Based on the DIRAC survey, compared to 2021 data, in 2022 the number of radiation oncologi...