EPIDEMIOLOGICAL PROFILE AND DELAY IN TREATMENT ONSET IN PATIENTS WITH HEMATOLOGIC MALIGNANCIES AT A REGIONAL ONCOLOGY INSTITUTE: ADHERENCE TO BRAZIL’S 60-DAY LAW
- 1Instituto de Oncologia Ciências Médicas (IONCM-CMMG), Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil
Abstract
Background: Hematologic malignancies require prompt diagnosis and intervention. Brazilian Law No. 12,732/2012 (''Lei dos 60 dias'') mandates that cancer patients receive their initial treatment (surgery, radiotherapy, or chemotherapy) within the Public Health System (SUS) no later than 60 days following the pathological confirmation of diagnosis. Aim: To describe the epidemiological profile of patients with hematologic malignancies treated at a regional oncology institute and to evaluate adherence to the legal 60-day treatment window. Methods: Retrospective analysis of an institutional cancer registry, from November/2024 to December/2025. Patients with a hematologic diagnosis were included (N = 559). Demographic variables and the interval between diagnosis and first treatment date were analyzed. Results: Myeloproliferative neoplasms (26.1%) were the most frequent subtype, followed by multiple myeloma (20.8%), non-Hodgkin lymphoma (16.3%), myeloid leukemia (13.2%), and lymphoid leukemia (10.6%) (Leukemia cases were reclassified as myeloid or lymphoid lineage based on the neoplasm classification recorded in the registry; as filled in, both acute and chronic forms were pooled within each lineage, since the data did not consistently distinguish them). The median age at diagnosis was 65.2 years (n = 336 of 559 with data recorded; mean 62.6, SD 16.1). Among patients with sex recorded (n = 344), 53.2% were male; among those with self-declared race/color (n = 343), 76.1% identified as mixed race. Almost all patients with residence data (n = 344, 99.7%) lived in Minas Gerais state, 37.2% in the capital, Belo Horizonte. Both diagnosis and treatment-start dates were available for 103 patients (18.4% of the cohort); after excluding 2 inconsistent records, 101 remained for analysis. The median time to treatment initiation was 94 days (IQR 47-148); only 34.7% (35/101) began treatment within 60 days (nearly two-thirds exceeded the deadline). This was consistent across subtypes: even in the best-performing groups, non-Hodgkin lymphoma and myeloid leukemia, 47.1% (n = 17) and 50.0% (n = 14) still exceeded 60 days; multiple myeloma performed worst, at 70.4% (n = 27). Discussion and conclusion: In this institutional cohort, myeloproliferative neoplasms and leukemia were prevalent, characterized by an age profile of older adults, which is typical for hematologic malignancies. Despite the legal guarantee, only about one-third of patients with available data started treatment within 60 days of diagnosis, with the longest delays in multiple myeloma. This gap between legal entitlement and real-world timeliness of care suggests a concrete opportunity to investigate barriers to prompt treatment initiation in onco-hematology and reinforces the need to improve registry completeness (particularly for treatment-date and outcome fields) to support future survival data analyses.
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BibTeX
@article{anastacio2026epidemiological,
title = {{EPIDEMIOLOGICAL PROFILE AND DELAY IN TREATMENT ONSET IN PATIENTS WITH HEMATOLOGIC MALIGNANCIES AT A REGIONAL ONCOLOGY INSTITUTE: ADHERENCE TO BRAZIL’S 60-DAY LAW}},
author = {Lucas De Barros ANASTÁCIO and Peterson Cardoso GONTIJO and Pedro Alcântara Botelho MACHADO and Márcia Torresan DELAMAIN},
journal = {Hematology, Transfusion and Cell Therapy},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1016/j.htct.2026.107449},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.htct.2026.107449},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - EPIDEMIOLOGICAL PROFILE AND DELAY IN TREATMENT ONSET IN PATIENTS WITH HEMATOLOGIC MALIGNANCIES AT A REGIONAL ONCOLOGY INSTITUTE: ADHERENCE TO BRAZIL’S 60-DAY LAW
AU - Lucas De Barros ANASTÁCIO
AU - Peterson Cardoso GONTIJO
AU - Pedro Alcântara Botelho MACHADO
AU - Márcia Torresan DELAMAIN
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/23
JO - Hematology, Transfusion and Cell Therapy
DO - 10.1016/j.htct.2026.107449
UR - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.htct.2026.107449
AB - Background: Hematologic malignancies require prompt diagnosis and intervention. Brazilian Law No. 12,732/2012 (''Lei dos 60 dias'') mandates that cancer patients receive their initial treatment (surgery, radiotherapy, or chemotherapy) within the Public Health System (SUS) no later than 60 days following the pathological confirmation of diagnosis. Aim: To describe the epidemiological profile of patients with hematologic malignancies treated at a regional oncology institute and to evaluate adherence to the legal 60-day treatment window. Methods: Retrospective analysis of an institutional cancer registry, from November/2024 to December/2025. Patients with a hematologic diagnosis were included (N = 559). Demographic variables and the interval between diagnosis and first treatment date were analyzed. Results: Myeloproliferative neoplasms (26.1%) were the most frequent subtype, followed by multiple myeloma (20.8%), non-Hodgkin lymphoma (16.3%), myeloid leukemia (13.2%), and lymphoid leukemia (10.6%) (Leukemia cases were reclassified as myeloid or lymphoid lineage based on the neoplasm classification recorded in the registry; as filled in, both acute and chronic forms were pooled within each lineage, since the data did not consistently distinguish them). The median age at diagnosis was 65.2 years (n = 336 of 559 with data recorded; mean 62.6, SD 16.1). Among patients with sex recorded (n = 344), 53.2% were male; among those with self-declared race/color (n = 343), 76.1% identified as mixed race. Almost all patients with residence data (n = 344, 99.7%) lived in Minas Gerais state, 37.2% in the capital, Belo Horizonte. Both diagnosis and treatment-start dates were available for 103 patients (18.4% of the cohort); after excluding 2 inconsistent records, 101 remained for analysis. The median time to treatment initiation was 94 days (IQR 47-148); only 34.7% (35/101) began treatment within 60 days (nearly two-thirds exceeded the deadline). This was consistent across subtypes: even in the best-performing groups, non-Hodgkin lymphoma and myeloid leukemia, 47.1% (n = 17) and 50.0% (n = 14) still exceeded 60 days; multiple myeloma performed worst, at 70.4% (n = 27). Discussion and conclusion: In this institutional cohort, myeloproliferative neoplasms and leukemia were prevalent, characterized by an age profile of older adults, which is typical for hematologic malignancies. Despite the legal guarantee, only about one-third of patients with available data started treatment within 60 days of diagnosis, with the longest delays in multiple myeloma. This gap between legal entitlement and real-world timeliness of care suggests a concrete opportunity to investigate barriers to prompt treatment initiation in onco-hematology and reinforces the need to improve registry completeness (particularly for treatment-date and outcome fields) to support future survival data analyses.
SN - 2531-1379
SN - 2531-1387
ER -