In an article that will appear in Annals of Oncology, researchers outlined recommendations for testing patients with lung cancer for the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), a respiratory tract infection caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) coronavirus (COV), also named SARS-CoV-2.
Though all types of malignancies appear to be associated with high COVID-19 prevalence, morbidity, and mortality, patients with lung cancer represent specific cumulative risk factors for COVID-19 complications, including older age, significant cardiovascular and respiratory co-morbidities, smoking-related lung damage, as well as treatment-related immune impairment or suppression.
“Defective pulmonary architecture from mechanical tumor obstruction or previous lung surgery may also predispose to infection,” the authors wrote. “Changes in the anatomy of airway and pulmonary tissue…
