Why is it important to report early possible COVID-19 PET/CT findings in cancer patients? Explaining with a case series.
Indian J Cancer
; 58(2): 248-258, 2021.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1261388
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
Coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) causing a pandemic mostly results in mild symptoms; however, it can evolve into serious complications. It is emphasized that if the term from the recent anticancer treatment to the diagnosis of COVID-19 was short, the probability of serious events increased in cancer patients. Therefore, early detection of COVID-19 and prevention of serious events is very important. We aimed to investigate whether it is possible to detect COVID-19 early by positron emission tomography (PET)/computed tomography (CT).METHODS:
We retrospectively evaluated the images and clinical findings of patients who underwent PET/CT due to malignancy and whose COVID-19 polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test were detected positive subsequently.RESULTS:
Eight cancer patients with positive COVID-19 PCR tests were included in the study. PET/CT revealed subpleural ground-glass opacities (GGOs) showing mild fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) uptake that could be compatible with COVID-19 in 4 of 8 patients. The number of affected lobes ranged from 1-4. All patients were diagnosed with COVID-19 by PCR test when symptoms and/or lung findings worsened on the days after PET/CT. The time interval between the last anticancer treatment and COVID-19 diagnosis in five patients was ≤7 days. During the follow-up, six of the cases (75%) needed mechanical ventilation and died later.CONCLUSION:
COVID-19 may be recognised early by detecting incidental findings in PET/CT, especially in asymptomatic cancer patients. Potential complications may be prevented by early diagnosis and anticancer therapy changes. Therefore, possible COVID-19 findings in PET/CT should be reported and the patient should be referred to relevant clinician.Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Positron Emission Tomography Computed Tomography
/
COVID-19 Testing
/
COVID-19
/
Neoplasms
Type of study:
Cohort study
/
Diagnostic study
/
Experimental Studies
/
Prognostic study
Topics:
Long Covid
Limits:
Adult
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
/
Middle aged
Language:
English
Journal:
Indian J Cancer
Year:
2021
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Ijc.IJC_645_20
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