COVID-19 Pandemic

Browsing: COVID-19 Pandemic

The latest news effecting cancer patients and oncology service delivery during the COVID-19 pandemic

Cancer drug cures COVID-19 patient with acute respiratory distress

By ONA Editor on June 24, 2020 Cancer Drug News, COVID-19 Pandemic

Although the spreading SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus usually causes only mild respiratory symptoms, the COVID-19 disease progresses so severely in around five percent of those affected that acute respiratory distress can occur. “The mortality rate in these cases is high,” says Dr Thomas Wiesmann, who attended the patient along with the intensive care team in the Department of Anesthesia and Intensive Care at Marburg University Hospital, Germany. The patient is a 65-year-old woman without pre-existing conditions who was admitted to the hospital for progressive shortness of breath and fever. Her shortness of breath worsened so rapidly that she had to be intubated…

Survey shows global urological services have been significantly deferred due to COVID-19 pandemic

By ONA Editor on June 22, 2020 COVID-19 Pandemic

The Faculty of Medicine at The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CU Medicine) has recently conducted a global survey to examine the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on urological care. This is the world’s first survey of its kind and includes a large sample of urology professionals from six continents. Results from over 1,000 participants showed that on average 28% of urology outpatient clinics, 30% of outpatient investigations and procedures, and 31% of urological surgeries had a delay of more than eight weeks. The degree of cut-down of urological services increased with the degree of COVID-19 outbreak. As outpatient procedures…

TERAVOLT registry tracks outcomes among thoracic cancer patients sickened by COVID-19

By ONA Editor on June 17, 2020 COVID-19 Pandemic, Lung Cancer

New data from TERAVOLT, a global consortium that tracks outcomes of people with thoracic cancers affected by COVID-19, offers clues as to why they experienced a high death rate of 33% when the coronavirus swept across Europe. While the majority of those who died were hospitalized, only 9% were admitted to intensive care units, according to a study published in The Lancet Oncology. Most died from complications of COVID-19, not the progression of cancer. “Just having a lung cancer diagnosis in and of itself shouldn’t exclude patients from care,” said Leora Horn, MD, MSc, Ingram Associate Professor of Cancer Research at Vanderbilt-Ingram…

Treatment plan helps keep young cancer patients home

By ONA Editor on June 17, 2020 COVID-19 Pandemic, Editor's Choice, Paediatric Oncology & AYA, Treatment and Support

An Australian program that avoids hospital admission for some young cancer patients with a fever is helping to ease pressure on the UK health system during the COVID-19 crisis. The AUS-rule system, now published in E Clinical Med, guides doctors when deciding whether patients can be treated and supported at home. Led by experts at Murdoch Children’s Research Institute (MCRI) and the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, AUS-rule has already been successfully deployed in several Australian hospitals including the Royal Children’s Hospital. It has also been fast-tracked in some UK hospitals. Children undergoing cancer treatment face an increased risk of febrile…

Impact of COVID-19 infection in blood cancer patients

By ONA_Eloise on June 9, 2020 COVID-19 Pandemic

One of the first studies to investigate the outcome of COVID-19 infection in patients with blood cancer has been conducted by clinical researchers from Queen Mary University of London and Barts Health NHS Trust, UK. People with blood cancer are expected to be amongst those at increased risk of COVID-19 infection due to a weakened immune system from the effects of their cancer and the nature of the cancer treatment they receive. Immunosuppression in blood cancer patients is also predicted to lead to more severe outcomes following infection. However, the present study found that even if patients were actively having…

Blood cancer drug may help treat patients with severe COVID-19

By ONA_Eloise on June 9, 2020 COVID-19 Pandemic

Early data from a clinical study suggest that blocking the Bruton tyrosine kinase (BTK) protein provided clinical benefit to a small group of patients with severe COVID-19. Researchers observed that the off-label use of the cancer drug acalabrutinib, a BTK inhibitor that is approved to treat several blood cancers, was associated with reduced respiratory distress and a reduction in the overactive immune response in most of the treated patients. The findings were published in Science Immunology. The study was led by researchers in the Center for Cancer Research at the National Cancer Institute (NCI), in collaboration with researchers from the National…

Telephone interventions could be used to reduce symptoms of cancer

By ONA_Eloise on June 9, 2020 COVID-19 Pandemic, Editor's Choice, Treatment and Support

Telephone interventions could be used to successfully treat symptoms of cancer such as fatigue, depression and anxiety, new research in the Cochrane Library reports. This could help patients receive the care they need during the current Covid-19 pandemic when face- to- face access with medical professionals is limited. During this unique study researchers from the University of Surrey, UK, investigated the effectiveness of telephone interventions by medical professionals offering help and support in treating symptoms of cancer. People with cancer often experience a variety of symptoms such as depression, anxiety, sexually related issues and fatigue caused by the disease and its treatment.…

Helping Cancer Patients to Avoid or Fight COVID-19

By ONA_Eloise on June 5, 2020 COVID-19 Pandemic

Research underway at Peter Mac to help protect cancer patients from COVID-19 has received a $2.16 million boost from the Federal Government’s Medical Research Future Fund. The ProTreat trial – run by Professor Monica Slavin, Professor Karin Thursky and colleagues at the National Centre for Infection in Cancer – is testing a nasal spray that may help cancer patients to avoid contracting the virus. They are also assessing how new COVID-19 treatments, under development in Melbourne, work specifically for cancer patients. ProTreat is “an adaptive and rapid implementation trial of novel therapies to prevent and treat COVID-19 infection in high risk cancer…

ASCO 2020: Chemo within 3 months of COVID-19 diagnosis associated with an increased risk of death in patients with thoracic cancer

By ONA_Eloise on June 2, 2020 COVID-19 Pandemic, Events

Among patients with lung and other thoracic cancers also diagnosed with COVID-19, prior use of chemotherapy — alone or in combination with other treatments — was associated with increased risk of death, according to an analysis presented as part of the virtual scientific program of the 2020 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting. The data come from the Thoracic cancERs international coVid 19 cOLlaboraTion (TERAVOLT) registry and are the most recent available. “A number of factors — pre-existing lung damage, smoking status, advanced age, and comorbidities — make patients with thoracic cancers especially vulnerable to COVID-19. There are…

ASCO 2020: Multinational consortium reports COVID-19 impact on cancer patients

By ONA_Eloise on June 2, 2020 COVID-19 Pandemic, Events

People with cancer sickened by COVID-19 have a crude death rate of 13%, according to the largest series of data released thus far from a multinational perspective. The data on more than 900 patients, published in The Lancet, also revealed cancer-specific factors associated with increased mortality. The information is the first report from an ongoing international initiative by the COVID-19 and Cancer Consortium (CCC19) to track outcomes within this vulnerable population. The CCC19 registry was built and is maintained as an electronic REDCap database housed at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. “People with cancer face a great deal of uncertainty in the…

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