Delays in Treatment Because of COVID-19 Infection in Children With Cancer and Stem-Cell Transplant Recipients in Turkey

Abstract

We read with great interest the article "Changes in cancer management due to COVID-19 illness in patients with cancer in Northern California" by Wu et al. 1 The authors have analyzed the significant differences regarding management type and treatment intent in 131 adult and pediatric patients with cancer and COVID-19 between March 1 and June 30, 2020, at two academic institutions. The mean age was 60 (range, 3-97) years. Most had solid malignancies, and 22% had hematologic malignancies. Fifty patients (38%) required hospitalization, 19 of whom (15%) required ICU care and nine (7%) died of complications of COVID-19. Of the nine deaths, four (44%) were undergoing active cancer treatment at the time of COVID-19 diagnosis. 1

Reply to R. Kebudi et al

“…We appreciate the interest and added perspective for our manuscript “Changes in Cancer Management due to COVID-19 Illness in Patients with Cancer in Northern California.” 1 Global and regional perspectives will eventually provide a more complete picture of how the oncology community responded to the pandemic. We found it interesting that Kebudi et al 2 see similar trends in the pediatric cancer patient population in Turkey. Our published cohort had six patients with pediatric cancer younger than 18 years; given the relatively small number of patients, we chose to focus on trends in the group as a whole.…”