Time to SARS-CoV-2 clearance among patients with cancer and COVID-19.
Cancer Med
; 10(5): 1545-1549, 2021 03.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1070706
Preprint
This scientific journal article is probably based on a previously available preprint. It has been identified through a machine matching algorithm, human confirmation is still pending.
See preprint
This scientific journal article is probably based on a previously available preprint. It has been identified through a machine matching algorithm, human confirmation is still pending.
See preprint
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
For cancer patients, coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) infection can lead to delays in cancer therapy both due to the infection itself and due to the need to minimize exposure to other patients and to staff. Clearance guidelines have been proposed, but expected time to clearance has not been established.METHODS:
We identified all patients at a tertiary care hospital cancer center between 25 March 2020 and 6 June 2020 with a positive nasopharyngeal reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test for the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), a cancer-related visit within 3 years, and at least one follow-up assay. We determined the time to clearance using American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), the UK National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (UK-NICE), and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) criteria. A matched non-cancer comparison cohort was also identified.RESULTS:
Thirty-two cancer patients were identified. Nineteen were cleared by ASCO criteria, with estimated median time to clearance of 50 days. Fourteen patients resumed chemotherapy prior to clearance. Using UK-NICE criteria, median time to clearance would have been 31 days, and using CDC criteria, it would have been 13 days. The matched non-cancer cohort had similar clearance time, but with less frequent testing.CONCLUSION:
SARS-CoV-2 clearance times differ substantially depending on the criteria used and may be prolonged in cancer patients. This could lead to a delay in cancer care, increased use of clearance testing, and extension of infection control precautions.Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Quarantine
/
Infection Control
/
SARS-CoV-2
/
COVID-19
/
Neoplasms
Type of study:
Cohort study
/
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
Limits:
Aged
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
Language:
English
Journal:
Cancer Med
Year:
2021
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Cam4.3708
Similar
MEDLINE
...
LILACS
LIS