{'fraction_non_alphanumeric': 0.04977116704805492, 'fraction_numerical': 0.060068649885583525, 'mean_word_length': 4.365030674846626, 'pattern_counts': {'":': 0, '<': 0, '<?xml version=': 0, '>': 0, 'https://': 0, 'lorem ipsum': 0, 'www.': 0, 'xml': 0}, 'pii_count': 0, 'substrings_counts': 0, 'word_list_counts': {'cursed_substrings.json': 0, 'profanity_word_list.json': 0, 'sexual_word_list.json': 0, 'zh_pornsignals.json': 0}}
Radiation therapy services during 
the COVID-19 pandemic

Relevance: The outbreak of a new respiratory disease 
SARS CoV-2 (COVID-19), reported by China in December 2019, 
significantly impacted cancer treatment. However, modern 
radiotherapy techniques remain in use during the COVID-19 
pandemics. They include intensive modulated radiation therapy (IMRT, VMAT), image-guided radiation therapy (IGRT), stereotactic radiosurgery, and radiotherapy (SRS and SRT). 
The research aimed to compare the techniques used and 
the throughput of the linear accelerator before and during the 
COVID-19 pandemics. 
Results: The results were measured during nine months 
of operation of Almaty Oncology Center before the pandemic 
(April-December 2019) and the similar period during the pandemic in 2020. The amount of high-tech radiotherapy services 
provided before and during the COVID-19 pandemic equaled 
to (amount of sessions/ number of patients): conformal (3D) 
radiotherapy – 6510/335 vs. 6005/286; IGRT – 9171/524 and 
8977/551; IMRT and VMAT – 4208/190 vs. 5992/287. 
The share of more complex methods of radiation therapy 
(IMRT, VMAT) has increased from 39.3% of sessions before the 
COVID-19 pandemic to 49.9% during the pandemic. The number of SRS and SRT procedures performed/patients served has 
also increased from 14/6 to 47/13. 
The average amount of services per patient before and 
during the COVID-19 pandemic has changed as follows: conformal radiation therapy – from 19.4 sessions to 21.0, IMRT 
and VMAT – from 22.1 to 20.9, IGRT – from 17.5 to 16.3. 
Conclusion: During the COVID-19 pandemic, there was 
no decrease in the amount of radiotherapy services; the use 
of more high-tech radiotherapy techniques has increased 1.4 
times.