In a retrospective case study of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in hospitals within Wuhan, China, which will appear in Annals of Oncology, researchers found that patients with cancer demonstrated deteriorating conditions and poor outcomes from the COVID-19 infection.
Given these findings, it is recommended that patients with cancer receiving anti-tumor treatments should have vigorous screening for COVID-19 infection and should avoid treatments causing immunosuppression or have their dosages decreased in case of COVID-19 co-infection. However, delaying anti-tumor treatments cannot be recommended according to the researchers.
“[Patients with cancer] should receive anti-tumor treatment in the setting of vigorous screening for COVID-19, including chest CT scan and nucleic acid testing, and the same should be extended to their companions. Treatment strategies likely to cause…
