Management of Cancer Patients during Coronavirus

With the virus still spreading its tentacles around us, people with other life-threatening diseases are also being inconvenienced. How does one go for a chemotherapy session? What is the way to go for follow-up tests? Dr Anita Ramesh, Prof and Head, Medical Oncology, Saveetha Medical College and Hospital, Chennai, lists out the clinical guide for patient management during the pandemic

- Dr Anita Ramesh

As doctors, we all have general responsibilities in relation to the coronavirus, and for these, we should seek and act on national and local guidelines. We also have a specific responsibility to ensure that essential cancer service care continues, with the minimum burden on healthcare.

Cancer services may not seem to be in the frontline with coronavirus but we do have a key role to play, and this must be planned.

Resources for the response to coronavirus:

Cancer Patients

The most vulnerable cancer patients are more at risk of becoming seriously ill if they contract the coronavirus infection. These include:

People with cancer who are undergoing active chemotherapy or radiotherapy

People with cancers of the blood or bone marrow such as leukaemia, lymphoma or myeloma, who are at any stage of treatment

People undergoing immunotherapy or other continuing antibody treatments for cancer

People having other targeted cancer treatments

People who have had bone marrow or stem cell transplants in the last six months, or who are still taking immunosuppression drugs

In addition to immunosuppression, several factors/co-morbidities are likely to be linked with a poorer prognosis with coronavirus:

Aged over 60

Pre-existing cardiovascular disease

Pre-existing respiratory disease

The more of these individual factors a cancer patient has, the more likely they are to develop a serious illness with coronavirus, especially if treated with systemic anti-cancer therapies.