A review of the international early recommendations for departments organization and cancer management priorities during the global COVID-19 pandemic: applicability in low- and middle-income countries

Belkacémi, Yazid; Grellier, N.; Ghith, Sahar; Debbi, K.; Coraggio, G.; Bounedjar, Adda; Samlali, R; Tsoutsou, Pauletta; Özşahin, Mahmut; Chauvet, Marie Pierre; Türkan, Sedat; Boussen, Hamouda; Kuten, Abraham; Tešanović, Dušanka; Errihani, Hassan; Benna, F; Bouzid, K.; Idbaïh, Ahmed; Mokhtari, Karima; Popović, Lazar; Spano, Jean Philippe; Lotz, Jean Pierre; Cherif, Aziz; To, Hahn; Kovčin, Vladimir; Arsovski, Oliver; Beslija, S.; Džodić, Radan; Marković, Ivan; Vasovic, S.; Stamatovic, Liljana; Radosavljević, Davorin; Radulović, Siniša; Vrbanec, Damir; Sahraoui, S.; Vasev, Nino; Stojkovski, Igor; Risteski, Milan; Freixa, Salvador Villà; Krengli, Marco; Radošević, Nina; Mustacchi, Giorgio; Filipovic, Mladen; Kerrou, Khaldoun; Taghian, Alphonse G.; Todorović, Vladimir; Geara, Fady; Gligorov, Joseph

doi:10.1016/j.ejca.2020.05.015

Cited by 35 publications

(48 citation statements)

References 45 publications

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“…Another concern that physicians in charge of metastatic cancer patients have had during the pandemic is in selecting the ideal systemic treatment from different available alternatives, keeping in view emerging data that hospital admission or recurrent hospital visits could be potential risk factors for cancer patients to acquire SARS-CoV-2 infection [ 12 ]. Patients with cancer being treated in low- and middle-income countries have faced particularly difficult challenges during the pandemic [ 51 – 53 ].…”

Section: Impact Of the Pandemic On Cancer Treatmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cancer Treatment and Research During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Experience of the First 6 Months

et al. 2020

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The coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has had a significant impact on patients with underlying malignancy. In this article, we summarize emerging data related to patients with cancer and COVID-19. Among patients with COVID-19, a higher proportion have an underlying diagnosis of cancer than seen in the general population. Also, patients with malignancy are likely to be more vulnerable than the general population to contracting COVID-19. Mortality is significantly higher in patients with both cancer and COVID-19 compared with the Digital Features To view digital features for this article go to

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Section: Impact Of the Pandemic On Cancer Treatmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cancer Treatment and Research During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Experience of the First 6 Months

et al. 2020

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“…Even among countries which were not severely affected by the pandemic (in terms of numbers of cases and COVID-19 related deaths), major adjustments were performed. 11,12 Although, the health care system in Greece was not severely affected by the pandemic, the general restrictive measures that were imposed by health authorities and the special circumstances required a new operation mode. In response to this call, several measures were implemented by our Unit and our two-month experience indicates that they were probably effective, despite the relatively low number of COVD-19 cases in the country level.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Response of an oncology unit in the midst of the COVID-19 outbreak

Liontos

Kastritis

Migkou

et al. 2020

J Oncol Pharm Pract

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Coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) pandemic has caused an emergency in health systems worldwide. Apart from its apparent morbidity and mortality, COVID-19 has also imposed unique challenges in the management of cancer patients. We report here measures taken by a major oncology Unit in Greece to continue operation of the department while ensuring safety of the patients and health care professionals. The efficacy of these measures could serve as guidance for Oncology departments in view of a second wave of COVID-19 cases.

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“…In a nutshell, almost all recommendations describe means of delaying less urgent treatment and prioritizing breast cancer care carefully based on individual patients' needs as dictated by the disease, ground reality, and resources 13,14,16 …”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A multidisciplinary approach to triage patients with breast disease during the COVID‐19 pandemic: Experience from a tertiary care center in the developing world

et al. 2021

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Background The COVID‐19 pandemic has created a need to prioritize care because of limitation of resources. Owing to the heterogeneity and high prevalence of breast cancers, the need to prioritize care in this vulnerable population is essential. While various medical societies have published recommendations to manage breast disease during the COVID‐19 pandemic, most are focused on the Western world and do not necessarily address the challenges of a resource‐limited setting. Aim In this article, we describe our institutional approach for prioritizing care for patients presenting with breast disease. Methods and results The breast disease management guidelines were developed and approved with the expertise of the Multidisciplinary Breast Program Leadership Committee (BPLC) of the Aga Khan University, Karachi, Pakistan. These guidelines were inspired, adapted, and modified keeping in view the needs of our resource‐limited healthcare system. These recommendations are also congruent with the ethical guidelines developed by the Center of Biomedical Ethics and Culture (CBEC) at the Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplantation (SIUT), Karachi. Our institutional recommendations outline a framework to triage patients based on the urgency of care, scheduling conflicts, and tumor board recommendations, optimizing healthcare workers' schedules, operating room reallocation, and protocols. We also describe the “Virtual Blended Clinics”, a resource‐friendly means of conducting virtual clinics and a comprehensive plan for transitioning back into the post‐COVID routine. Conclusion Our institutional experience may be considered as a guide during the COVID‐19 pandemic, particularly for triaging care in a resource‐limited setting; however, these are not meant to be universally applicable, and individual cases must be tailored based on physicians' clinical judgment to provide the best quality care.

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A review of the international early recommendations for departments organization and cancer management priorities during the global COVID-19 pandemic: applicability in low- and middle-income countries

Cited by 35 publications

References 45 publications

Cancer Treatment and Research During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Experience of the First 6 Months

Cancer Treatment and Research During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Experience of the First 6 Months

Response of an oncology unit in the midst of the COVID-19 outbreak

A multidisciplinary approach to triage patients with breast disease during the COVID‐19 pandemic: Experience from a tertiary care center in the developing world

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