ABSTRACT
The interaction of coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) and chemotherapy may result in worse outcomes. However, there may be more indirect effects of COVID. We report 3 cases in which treatment was delayed because of COVID-related inability or reluctance to travel. Oncology programs should consider such indirect effects when devising treatments.
Subject(s)
COVID-19/transmission , Osteosarcoma/drug therapy , Retinoblastoma/drug therapy , SARS-CoV-2/isolation & purification , Time-to-Treatment/statistics & numerical data , Transportation/statistics & numerical data , Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols , Bone Neoplasms/drug therapy , Bone Neoplasms/virology , COVID-19/virology , Child , Child, Preschool , Female , Humans , Infant , Male , Osteosarcoma/virology , Prognosis , Retinal Neoplasms/drug therapy , Retinal Neoplasms/virology , Retinoblastoma/virologyABSTRACT
The novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, causes much more severe disease in adults than in children. Although it is anticipated that immune compromised children and children with cancer may be at higher risk of developing severe or fatal COVID-19, there are no currently published reports of fatal disease in a child with cancer. Because of the discrepancy in disease severity between adult and pediatric patients, we report the case of an adolescent with pulmonary metastatic osteosarcoma who died of COVID-19 early in the course of the pandemic in New York City in the hope that heightening awareness that pulmonary metastatic disease may predispose to a more severe outcome will increase surveillance in this vulnerable population.