Relative Timing of Radiotherapy and Androgen Deprivation for Prostate Cancer and Implications for Treatment During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

systems. Electronic health records containing uniform modules for functional status reporting may have better documentation. 5 We could not assess functional status documentation relating to clinical trial participation. We also could not determine whether PS documentation was ascertained at each clinical encounter or whether text was cut and pasted from previous EHRs. Future research should investigate approaches to improve documentation of functional status among patients with cancer.

Comparison and impact of COVID-19 for patients with cancer: a survival analysis of fatality rate controlling for age, sex and cancer type

“…16 17 27 Our results focused on fatality are complementary to those few studies focused on oncological procedures unimpacted by COVID-19. Indeed, investigations of the National Cancer Data Base on prostate radiotherapy 28 and breast cancer surgeries 29 report unchanged overall survival during COVID-19.…”

Cancer patients and COVID-19: Mortality, serious complications, biomarkers, and ways forward

“…offer similar guidance based on their experience, endorsing that delays or altered treatment may be beneficial for cancer patients [65] . Notably, delays in certain treatments may have unknown effects for cancer patients undergoing multiple therapies at once, such as prostate cancer patients who may pause in-hospital radiotherapy at the risk of making concomitant androgen deprivation therapy less effective [66] .…”

Delaying radiation therapy for prostate cancer unlikely to affect survival during coronavirus disease 2019

“…Giving patients with prostate cancer the option to delay radiation and remain on hormone therapy during a surge in COVID‐19 cases is unlikely to affect their survival according to a recent study published in JAMA Oncology 1 …”

“…Published in JAMA Oncology, the study was the first to examine the connection and show a strong association between these 2 objective measures. 1 Furthermore, the amount of time that a person spends sitting before a cancer diagnosis is predictive of the time to cancer death, notes lead author Susan Gilchrist, MD, a professor of clinical cancer prevention at MD Anderson.…”

“…G iving patients with prostate cancer the option to delay radiation and remain on hormone therapy during a surge in COVID-19 cases is unlikely to affect their survival according to a recent study published in JAMA Oncology. 1 Daily hospital trips for radiation treatment pose a potential virus exposure danger for patients with cancer, who are at high risk of COVID-19 mortality, experts say. Delaying radiation therapy until virus cases flatten could be a useful option as long as the delay does not affect a patient's cancer.…”