Active and Effective Measures for the Care of Patients With Cancer During the COVID-19 Spread in China
Cet article commente les mesures prises en Chine pour prendre en charge les patients atteints d’un cancer pendant la période de propagation du COVID-19
Recently, an outbreak of the highly infectious novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has swept Wuhan, China, with 80?303 confirmed diagnosed cases in China as of March 3, 2020.1 Considering its high risk of person-to-person transmission, hospitals, especially in China, are the typical congregating places that will bear the brunt of this infectious disease. To reduce or avoid cross infection of COVID-19, many hospitals have started taking actions to limit the number of outpatient visits and inpatient admissions. For example, only emergency surgeries can be guaranteed, while most others are postponed. Maintenance chemotherapy and/or immunotherapy treatments for patients with advanced cancer are often suspended. However, forced delays or interruptions of routine treatment might increase the risk of disease deterioration, especially for patients with cancer. In China, approximately 4.3 million cases of cancer are diagnosed each year.2 During the epidemic of COVID-19, the treatment of patients with cancer, which is often considered as nonemergent, is inevitably affected across China, especially in Wuhan. (…)
JAMA Oncology 2020