Older Cancer Patients during the COVID-19 Epidemic: Practice Proposal of the International Geriatric Radiotherapy Group
The coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) pandemic is unprecedented as it reached all countries in the world within a record short period of time. Even though COVID-19 infection may be just severe in any adults, older adults (65-year-old or older) may experience a higher mortality rate. Among those affe...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2020-05-01
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| Series: | Cancers |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6694/12/5/1287 |
| _version_ | 1797567541848047616 |
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| author | Nam P. Nguyen Vincent Vinh-Hung Brigitta G. Baumert Alice Zamagni Meritxell Arenas Micaela Motta Pedro Carlos Lara Arthur Sun Myint Marta Bonet Tiberiu Popescu Te Vuong Gokula Kumar Appalanaido Lurdes Trigo Ulf Karlsson Juliette Thariat |
| author_facet | Nam P. Nguyen Vincent Vinh-Hung Brigitta G. Baumert Alice Zamagni Meritxell Arenas Micaela Motta Pedro Carlos Lara Arthur Sun Myint Marta Bonet Tiberiu Popescu Te Vuong Gokula Kumar Appalanaido Lurdes Trigo Ulf Karlsson Juliette Thariat |
| author_sort | Nam P. Nguyen |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) pandemic is unprecedented as it reached all countries in the world within a record short period of time. Even though COVID-19 infection may be just severe in any adults, older adults (65-year-old or older) may experience a higher mortality rate. Among those affected, cancer patients may have a worse outcome compared to the general population because of their depressed immune status. As the health resources of most countries are limited, clinicians may face painful decisions about which patients to save if they require artificial ventilation. Cancer patients, especially the older ones, may be denied supportive care because of their shorter life expectancy. Thus, special considerations should be taken to prevent infection of older cancer patients and to provide them with adequate social support during their cancer treatment. The following proposal was reached: (1) Education of health care providers about the special needs of older cancer patients and their risks of infection. (2) Special consideration such as surgical masks and separate scheduling should be made to protect them from being infected. (3) Social services such as patient navigators should be provided to ensure adequate medical supply, food, and daily transportation to cancer centers. (4) Close monitoring through phone calls, telecommunication to ensure social distancing and psychological support from patient family to prevent anxiety and depression. (5) Shorter course of radiotherapy by use of hypofractionation where possible to decrease the needs for daily transportation and exposure to infection. (6) Enrollment of older cancer patients in clinical trials for potential antiviral medications if infection does occur. (7) Home health care telemedicine may be an effective strategy for older cancer patients with COVID-19 infection to avoid hospital admission when health care resources become restricted. (8) For selected patients, immunotherapy and targeted therapy may become the systemic therapy of choice for older cancer patients and need to be tested in clinical trials. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T19:43:29Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-17ea08009c1e4eb7ac1b809d7f675049 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2072-6694 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T19:43:29Z |
| publishDate | 2020-05-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Cancers |
| spelling | doaj.art-17ea08009c1e4eb7ac1b809d7f6750492023-11-20T00:59:11ZengMDPI AGCancers2072-66942020-05-01125128710.3390/cancers12051287Older Cancer Patients during the COVID-19 Epidemic: Practice Proposal of the International Geriatric Radiotherapy GroupNam P. Nguyen0Vincent Vinh-Hung1Brigitta G. Baumert2Alice Zamagni3Meritxell Arenas4Micaela Motta5Pedro Carlos Lara6Arthur Sun Myint7Marta Bonet8Tiberiu Popescu9Te Vuong10Gokula Kumar Appalanaido11Lurdes Trigo12Ulf Karlsson13Juliette Thariat14Department of Radiation Oncology, Howard University, Washington, DC 20060, USADepartment of Radiation Oncology, University Hospital of Martinique, 97200 Fort-de-France, FranceInstitute of Radiation Oncology, Cantonal Hospital Graubuenden, 7000 Chur, SwitzerlandRadiation Oncology Center, Department of Experimental, Diagnostic and Specialty Medicine, Sant’Orsola-Malpighi Hospital, University of Bologna, 40138 Bologna, ItalyDepartment of Radiation Oncology, Sant Joan de Reus University, University Rovira I Virgili, 43201 Tarragona, SpainDepartment of Radiation Oncology, Hospital Papa Giovanni XXIII, 24127 Bergamo, ItalyDepartment of Radiation Oncology, Fernando Pessoa Canarias Las Palmas University, 35001 Las Palmas, SpainDepartment of Radiation Oncology, Clatterbridge Cancer Center, Liverpool CH63 4JY, UKDepartment of Radiation Oncology, Arnau de Vilanova University Hospital, 25198 Lleida, SpainDepartment of Radiation Oncology, Prof. Dr. Ion Chricuta Oncology Institute, 400015 Cluj-Napoca, RomaniaDepartment of Radiation Oncology, McGill University, Jewish General Hospital, Montreal, QC H3T1E2, CanadaDepartment of Radiation Oncology, AMDI, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang 13200, MalaysiaDepartment of Radiation Oncology, Instituto Portugues de Oncologia do Porto Francisco Martins Porto E.P.E, 4200-072 Porto, PortugalDepartment of Radiation Oncology, International Geriatric Group, Washington, DC 20001, USADepartment of Radiation Oncology, Baclesse Cancer Center, 14000 Caen, FranceThe coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) pandemic is unprecedented as it reached all countries in the world within a record short period of time. Even though COVID-19 infection may be just severe in any adults, older adults (65-year-old or older) may experience a higher mortality rate. Among those affected, cancer patients may have a worse outcome compared to the general population because of their depressed immune status. As the health resources of most countries are limited, clinicians may face painful decisions about which patients to save if they require artificial ventilation. Cancer patients, especially the older ones, may be denied supportive care because of their shorter life expectancy. Thus, special considerations should be taken to prevent infection of older cancer patients and to provide them with adequate social support during their cancer treatment. The following proposal was reached: (1) Education of health care providers about the special needs of older cancer patients and their risks of infection. (2) Special consideration such as surgical masks and separate scheduling should be made to protect them from being infected. (3) Social services such as patient navigators should be provided to ensure adequate medical supply, food, and daily transportation to cancer centers. (4) Close monitoring through phone calls, telecommunication to ensure social distancing and psychological support from patient family to prevent anxiety and depression. (5) Shorter course of radiotherapy by use of hypofractionation where possible to decrease the needs for daily transportation and exposure to infection. (6) Enrollment of older cancer patients in clinical trials for potential antiviral medications if infection does occur. (7) Home health care telemedicine may be an effective strategy for older cancer patients with COVID-19 infection to avoid hospital admission when health care resources become restricted. (8) For selected patients, immunotherapy and targeted therapy may become the systemic therapy of choice for older cancer patients and need to be tested in clinical trials.https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6694/12/5/1287oldercancer patientsepidemiccorona virus 19treatment |
| spellingShingle | Nam P. Nguyen Vincent Vinh-Hung Brigitta G. Baumert Alice Zamagni Meritxell Arenas Micaela Motta Pedro Carlos Lara Arthur Sun Myint Marta Bonet Tiberiu Popescu Te Vuong Gokula Kumar Appalanaido Lurdes Trigo Ulf Karlsson Juliette Thariat Older Cancer Patients during the COVID-19 Epidemic: Practice Proposal of the International Geriatric Radiotherapy Group Cancers older cancer patients epidemic corona virus 19 treatment |
| title | Older Cancer Patients during the COVID-19 Epidemic: Practice Proposal of the International Geriatric Radiotherapy Group |
| title_full | Older Cancer Patients during the COVID-19 Epidemic: Practice Proposal of the International Geriatric Radiotherapy Group |
| title_fullStr | Older Cancer Patients during the COVID-19 Epidemic: Practice Proposal of the International Geriatric Radiotherapy Group |
| title_full_unstemmed | Older Cancer Patients during the COVID-19 Epidemic: Practice Proposal of the International Geriatric Radiotherapy Group |
| title_short | Older Cancer Patients during the COVID-19 Epidemic: Practice Proposal of the International Geriatric Radiotherapy Group |
| title_sort | older cancer patients during the covid 19 epidemic practice proposal of the international geriatric radiotherapy group |
| topic | older cancer patients epidemic corona virus 19 treatment |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6694/12/5/1287 |
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