Head and Neck Oncologic Care During the COVID-19 Pandemic / 대한두경부종양학회지

ABSTRACT

It is well established that cancer patients are more susceptible to infection because of the immunosuppressive status caused by both disease itself and anticancer treatment, including surgery and chemoradiation. Head and neck cancer (HNC) patients are generally at high-risk for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection and serious adverse outcomes. Although there is an urgent need for guidance in the delivery of safe, quality oncologic care, no international consented recommendation addressed the management of HNC patients in COVID-19 due to limited data. In this review, we summarized the consideration for head and neck oncologic care in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, based on the data and the very recent recommendations from the Korean Cancer Association and National Cancer Center. COVID-19 should be taken into consideration in the comprehensive management of HNC patients, and multidisciplinary evaluation of multilevel surgical-risks, discussion of optimized strategy, and shared-decision-making with the patient are needed to maximize both the safety from infectious pandemic and outcome of surgical and oncologic care.