Effect of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Cancer Treatment

Yanshan Ge^1,2 & Minghua Wu^1,3*

¹Hunan Provincial Tumor Hospital and the Affiliated Tumor Hospital of Xiangya Medical School, Central South University, Changsha 410013, Hunan, China
²Basic School of Medicine, Xinjiang Medical University, Urumqi, Xinjiang, 830011, China
³The Key Laboratory of Carcinogenesis of the Chinese Ministry of Health, The Key Laboratory of Carcinogenesis and Cancer Invasion of the Chinese Ministry of Education, Cancer Research Institute, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan 410008, China

Dr. Minghua Wu, Hunan Provincial Tumor Hospital and the Affiliated Tumor Hospital of Xiangya Medical School & The Key Laboratory of Carcinogenesis of the Chinese Ministry of Health, Changsha 410013, Hunan, China.

Keywords: COVID-19; Pathogens; Cancer Patients

Abstract

Since being identified as a public health emergency of major international concern, the outbreak of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in 2019 has rapidly spread globally and has now been declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO). COVID- 19 has the characteristics of rapid spread from person to person. Many cancer patients often go to the hospital for treatment and disease monitoring. They may have weakened immunity due to underlying malignant tumors or anti-cancer treatment, and the risk of infection is higher. There is an urgent need to address the impact of this pandemic on cancer patients. This includes changes to resource allocation, clinical care, 
and consent processes during a pandemic. Due to limited data, there are currently no international guidelines for the treatment of cancer patients in the infectious pandemic. In this review, we will address the potential challenges of managing and treating cancer patients during the COVID-19 infection pandemic, and make some practical recommendations.

This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. (CC BY 4.0).