e24133 Background: The announcement of the pandemic by WHO had a great impact on global mental health. Mental disorders like stress, anxiety, depressive symptoms, insomnia, denial, anger, and fear affected the population worldwide. Cognitive-behavioral techniques are effective in improving the control of symptoms, the affective state and coping with the disease. Methods: Female patients were offered to take part in the study by their oncologists. Inclusion criteria included female patients who were diagnosed with cancer during the last 5 years. Intervention included - Online group psychotherapy which was conducted for 3 consecutive months, three times per week, using the interactive ZOOM platform. The Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) quality of life questionnaire QLQ-C30 was used to assess QoL of participants. We asked patients to fill the ERTC questionnaire twice, before the first and after the last psychotherapy sessions. Results: Total of 25 patients aged 18-55 were included in the study, 72% were receiving hormonal therapy, and 28% were receiving chemotherapy. Majority of patients (18) were diagnosed with breast, 4 with cervical and 1 with uterine and 2 with ovarian cancer in last 5 years. All patients were white Caucasian females. Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) showed no difference between groups on pre-RS score; But the study showed significant improvement in post RS (EORTC QLQ-C30) in patients with hormone therapy (Goodness of Fit-R square-0.4471, P-value-0.0024, 95% Confidence Intervals-0.4200 to 1.626), compare to patients with chemotherapy (Goodness of Fit-R square-0.003372, P-value- 0.9016, 95% Confidence Intervals--1.743 to 1.929).All measures were presented as mean with standard deviation and the level of significance was defined as DELTA(D) = 0.05. Conclusions: According to our research, group psychotherapy had a positive effect on quality of life of cancer patients undergoing hormonal therapy and showed no significant impact on patients treated with chemotherapy. More research and a larger sample size is needed for a better interpretation of results.
e13529 Background: The availability of comprehensive cancer care in different regions is the main problem in developing countries. In fact, the cancer centers are centralized and patients fail to receive the proper medical care in regions. The situation is critical for patients living in the zones of conflict. In Georgia we have cancer centers only in two cities Tbilisi and Kutaisi. The aim of the study was to investigate the rate of gastric cancer diagnoses in different regions of Georgia, that could be a model for developing countries. Methods: The spread of gastric cancer in Georgia was investigated retrospectively by analyzing the cases reported in different regions based on 5 years national cancer registry data from 2015 to 2021. The data included the number of cases, age, sex, and stage of gastric cancer. Data from all regions of Georgia were analyzed including occupied regions as Abkhazia and Tskhinvali. Other regions were – Tbilisi, Adjara, Guria, Imereti, Kakheti, Mstkheta, Racha, Samtskhe, Kvemo Kartli, Shida Kartli. Results: A total of 1825 patients with gastric cancer were evaluated during the period of 2015-2021 years. The highest number of diagnosed cases were reported in Tbilisi, with 258 cases in males and 200 cases in females, followed by Imereti (Kutaisi) with 125 cases in males and 80 cases in females and Adjara 132 cases in males and 56 cases in females. The other regions had lower numbers of diagnosed cases, with the lowest being Tskhinvali with only three cases in males and six cases in females. In Abkhazia were 44 cases in males and 19 cases in females. In terms of stage distribution there was no difference between the regions, the majority of patients were stage IV accounting 42 % of all cases, 28% was stage III, 10 % was stage II, 5% was stage I and 15% was of unknown stage. Age ranges were different according to the sex and regions – in Tbilisi 35-83 in males and 26-94 in females, in Adjara 29-88 in males and 28-84 in females, in Abkhazia 35-83 in males and 41-83 in females, in Guria 37-91 in males and 39-83 in females, in Imereti 37-88 in males and 34-84 in females, in Kakheti 34-85 in males and 37-89 in females, in Mtskheta 34-91 in males and 50-84 in females, in Racha 31-72 in males and 30-81 in females, in Samegrelo 33-96 in males and 21-90 in females, in Samtskhe 43-94 in males and 38-81 in females, in Kvemo Kartli 26-85 in males and 38-90 in females, in Shida Kartli 39-85 in males and 38-90 in females, in Tskhinvali 66-84 in males and 33-76 in females. Conclusions: The study found that availability of comprehensive care for gastric cancer including diagnosing is limited in the regions of Georgia, with the lowest rates in occupied regions. To improve the cancer care in developing countries such as Georgia international and national strategies are needed.
e18753 Background: Vaccination against COVID-19 decreases the risk of severe COVID 19 disease, hospitalization and death. Despite widespread recommendation from different cancer societies, vaccine hesitancy remains an issue in developing countries. Methods: Records of patients with cancer who received COVID-19 vaccination from March 1, 2021 and December 1, 2021, at Todua Clinic were analyzed retrospectively. Patient reported adverse effects (AE), vaccine related treatment interruptions, COVID -19 infection, and hospitalization rates were recorded. Results: A total of 1728 patients with cancer were treated at Todua Clinic during the study period. Of 177 (10%) patients who received Covid-19 vaccine, 63% were female and 34% were male. All patients were White. Mean age was 62 years. Majority of patients had solid cancer (93%) and only 7% had hematologic malignancies. A total of 76 (43%) patients had metastatic disease. Nearly half (47%) of patients were receiving cytotoxic chemotherapy, while others were receiving different treatment modalities (hormone therapy (33%), concurrent chemo-radiation (9%), chemo-immunotherapy (4%), targeted therapy (3%), immune therapy (2%), radiation therapy (2%)). Majority of the patients were vaccinated during the treatment process (61%), while 18% received covid-19 vaccine prior to treatment initiation and 21% patients received the vaccine after completion of treatment. A total of 124 patients (70%) were vaccinated with Pfizer-BioNTech, 33(19%) patients had received Sinopharm (Beijing), 14(8%) patients were vaccinated with The Oxford/AstraZeneca and 6 (3%) patients with Sinovac/CoronaVac. Only 13 (7%) patients received a booster dose (BD). Injection site pain was main AE for all vaccines (AstraZeneca 50%, Pfizer 33%, Sinopharm 45%, Sinovac 50%). Fever was reported in 14% of patients vaccinated with AstraZeneca, and 2% of those who received Pfizer vaccine. There were isolated cases of lymphadenopathy, fatigue, loss of appetite, joint and muscle pain after Pfizer vaccine and one case of polyneuropathy after a booster dose (Pfizer). No treatment interruptions were attributed to vaccination. Only 23 patients (13%) had confirmed COVID-19 infection (post AstraZeneca 1, Pfizer 13, Sinopharm 8, Sinovac 1). Only 1 case of hospitalization was reported after Sinopharm vaccine. No death was reported due to COVID-19 infection. Majority of patients (80%) were vaccinated following recommendation from their treating oncologist. Conclusions: In our study, COVID-19 vaccination was found to be safe for patients with cancer, and performed well with only one COVID-19 related hospitalization and no deaths. Vaccination rates among cancer patients are marginal in Georgia, and institutional and national policies are needed.
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