Introduction:

The advent of the COVID-19 pandemic (caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 [SARS-CoV-2] has had an impact on the management of other pathologies due to the high healthcare pressure generated. Due to its natural history, bladder cancer amenable to radical cystectomy requires special attention. We aim to compare the perio-perative and oncological results of these patients during the alarm state with respect to the pre-COVID era in a tertiary care center.

Material and methods:

Observational descriptive and analytical retrospective research. Patients who underwent radical cistectomy because of bladder cancer between April 2019 to March 2021, divided in two groups, April 2019-March 2020 (n = 42) and April 2020-March 2021 (n = 43).

Results:

Both groups turned out to be homogeneous. The median wait time from transurethral resection of the bladder to radical cystectomy did not increase (82.5 vs. 83 days, p = 0.860). No differences were observed in the TNM staging of the surgical specimens. Locally advanced tumors did not increase signifi-cantly (18 vs. 21, p = 0.580). The presence of lymph node involvement did not present significant differences either (10 vs. 13, p = 0.675). The average stay decreased by a value close to significance (median in days 11 vs. 8, p = 0.056) withoutbeing associated with a greater number of complications or readmissions at 30 days.

Conclusion:

In our series, we have not found significant differences in the perioperative and oncological results of patients treated by radical cystectomy during the COVID-19 pandemic.

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