ESTRO 2024 - Abstract Book

S2757

Interdisciplinary - Global health

ESTRO 2024

The adoption of hypofractionated treatments schemes for patients with PCa may lead to an exponential reduction in the Carbon Footprints totality originated in a Radiation therapy unit, becoming a substantial and tangible initiative to mitigate the global warming contribution by the oncologic industry.

Keywords: Global warming, Public Health, Carbon FootPrint

3018

Proffered Paper

Impact of war on radiotherapy in Ukraine and how to help

Nataliya Kovalchuk 1 , Ruslan Zelinskyi 2 , Zoia Shepil 3 , Roman Kizyma 4 , Andriy Hanych 5 , Daryna Semotyuk 6 , Serhii Brovchuk 3 , Natalka Suchowerska 7 1 Stanford University, Radiation Oncology, Palo Alto, USA. 2 Spizhenko Clinic, Radiation Oncology, Kyiv, Ukraine. 3 Kyiv Regional Cancer Center, Radiation Oncology, Kyiv, Ukraine. 4 Lviv 1st Territorial Hospital, Medical Oncology, Lviv, Ukraine. 5 Mariupol Onco Dispensary, Radiation Oncology, Mariupol, Ukraine. 6 Lviv Regional Cancer Center, Radiation Oncology, Lviv, Ukraine. 7 Sydney University, Radiation Oncology, Sydney, Australia

Purpose/Objective:

The full-scale russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24th, 2022 brought the largest humanitarian disaster to the heart of Europe since the World War II. Ukraine has lost tens of thousands of civilian lives, with approximately a third of the population displaced. The russian army is deliberately damaging and destroying hospitals and clinics, including cancer centers and radiotherapy departments. We propose to organize an ESTRO session that will describe the impact of the full-scale russian invasion on the radiation therapy (RT) services in Ukraine and suggest how to help.

Material/Methods:

We collected the information on operation of RT centers in Ukraine during the war. In addition, in January 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. Another survey by World Health Organization (WHO) conducted in May 2022 indicated that radiotherapy suffered the most significant disruptions relative to other branches of oncology with the staggering 38% decrease in radiotherapy patients treated