Perspective: Cancer Patient Management Challenges During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Daniela Terracciano; Carlo Buonerba; Luca Scafuri; Piergiuseppe De Berardinis; George A Calin; Alessandra Ferrajoli; Muller Fabbri; Amelia Cimmino

doi:10.3389/fonc.2020.01556

Perspective: Cancer Patient Management Challenges During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Front Oncol. 2020 Aug 18:10:1556. doi: 10.3389/fonc.2020.01556. eCollection 2020.

Authors

Daniela Terracciano¹, Carlo Buonerba^{2

3}, Luca Scafuri^{2

3}, Piergiuseppe De Berardinis⁴, George A Calin⁵, Alessandra Ferrajoli⁶, Muller Fabbri⁷, Amelia Cimmino⁸

Affiliations

¹ Department of Translational Medical Sciences, University Federico II, Naples, Italy.
² CRTR Rare Tumors Reference Center, AOU Federico II, Naples, Italy.
³ Environment & Health Operational Unit, Zoo-Prophylactic Institute of Southern Italy, Portici, Italy.
⁴ Institute of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, National Research Council, Naples, Italy.
⁵ Department of Experimental Therapeutics, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, United States.
⁶ Division of Cancer Prevention and Population Sciences, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, United States.
⁷ University of Hawaii Cancer Center, Cancer Biology Program, Honolulu, HI, United States.
⁸ Institute of Genetics and Biophysics, National Research Council, Naples, Italy.

Abstract

On March 11, 2020, the WHO has declared the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) a global pandemic. As the last few months have profoundly changed the delivery of health care in the world, we should recognize the effort of numerous comprehensive cancer centers to share experiences and knowledge to develop best practices to care for oncological patients during the COVID-19 pandemic. Patients as well as physicians must be aware of all these constraints and profound social, personal, and medical challenges posed by the tackling of this deadly disease in everyday life in order to adjust to such a completely novel scenario. This review will discuss facing the challenges and the current approaches that cancer centers in Italy and United States are adopting in order to cope with clinical and research activities.

Keywords: cancer; chemotherapy; coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19); pandemic; severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2).