COVID-19 and cancer

Cancer is one of the underlying diseases that increases the risk of COVID-19 developing to a serious illness.^[1][2]

Risk of severe illness

The NHS of the United Kingdom has warned that those undergoing active chemotherapy or radiotherapy for lung cancer and those with bone marrow cancers are vulnerable to serious illness if they become infected with COVID-19.^[3][4] In Sweden, individuals who recently got chemotherapy were found to be at a higher risk for developing severe illness following COVID-19.^[5]

Recommendations

The European Society of Medical Oncology (ESMO) recommends that oncologists should remain ready to adjust their clinical routines in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Recommendations for using telemedicine services, reducing clinic visits, switching intravenous therapies to subcutaneous or oral therapies, when possible. ESMO also recommends advising patients on infection control.^[6]

The NHS in England stresses that individual patient decisions have to be made by multidisciplinary teams.^[3] NHS has also established priority groups for those receiving anticancer treatments such that those with higher chances of success get prioritized for treatment over others.^[3]

The European Society of Surgical Oncology advises against seeing patients with cancer who are over 70 years of age in clinic, unless it is urgent.^[7]

Long COVID-19

Even though many COVID-19 patients recover within 2–6 weeks of the onset of symptoms, some develop symptoms that come and go for months. The possibility has been raised, but needs to be investigated further, that patients with long COVID-19 may be predisposed to the development of lung cancer.^[8]

References

1. Dhodapkar M, Dhodapkar K, Ahmed R (January 2021). "Viral Immunity and Vaccines in Hematologic Malignancies: Implications for COVID-19". Blood Cancer Discovery. 2 (1): 9–12. doi:10.1158/2643-3230.BCD-20-0177. PMC 8486288. PMID 34604788.
2. "COVID-19 och cancer". www.internetmedicin.se. Retrieved 13 May 2020.
3. Burki, Talha Khan (1 May 2020). "Cancer guidelines during the COVID-19 pandemic". The Lancet Oncology. 21 (5): 629–630. doi:10.1016/S1470-2045(20)30217-5. ISSN 1470-2045. PMC 7270910. PMID 32247319.
4. "Clinical guide for the management of noncoronavirus patients requiring acute treatment: Cancer" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 29 July 2020. Retrieved 13 May 2020.
5. "Förekomst och utfall av covid-19 hos personer med cancer" (PDF) (in Swedish). Swedish National Board of Health and Welfare. 2020-06-17. Dnr. 5.7-31575/2019. Retrieved 2022-04-02.
6. "Cancer Care During the COVID-19 Pandemic: An ESMO Guide for Patients". www.esmo.org. Retrieved 13 May 2020.
7. "ESSO Statement on COVID-19 :: ESSO". www.essoweb.org. Archived from the original on 5 November 2020. Retrieved 13 May 2020.
8. Saini, Geetanjali; Aneja, Ritu (June 2021). "Cancer as a prospective sequela of long COVID-19". BioEssays: News and Reviews in Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology. 43 (6): e2000331. doi:10.1002/bies.202000331. PMC 8206711. PMID 33914346.