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World J Gastrointest Pathophysiol. Sep 22, 2022; 13(5): 157-169
Published online Sep 22, 2022. doi: 10.4291/wjgp.v13.i5.157
Influence of the COVID-19 pandemic in the gastrointestinal oncology setting: An overview
Breno Bittencourt de Brito, Hanna Santos Marques, Filipe Antônio França da Silva, Maria Luísa Cordeiro Santos, Glauber Rocha Lima Araújo, Lara de Araujo Valente, Fabrício Freire de Melo
Breno Bittencourt de Brito, Filipe Antônio França da Silva, Maria Luísa Cordeiro Santos, Glauber Rocha Lima Araújo, Instituto Multidisciplinar em Saúde, Universidade Federal da Bahia, Vitória da Conquista 45029-094, Bahia, Brazil
Hanna Santos Marques, Lara de Araujo Valente, Campus Vitória da Conquista, Universidade Estadual do Sudoeste da Bahia, Vitória da Conquista 45055-380, Bahia, Brazil
Fabrício Freire de Melo, Instituto Multidisciplinar em Saúde, Universidade Federal da Bahia, Vitória da Conquista 45029-094, Brazil
Author contributions: All authors equally contributed to this manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Fabrício Freire de Melo, MSc, PhD, Postdoc, Professor, Instituto Multidisciplinar em Saúde, Universidade Federal da Bahia, Instituto Multidisciplinar em Saúde, Universidade Federal da Bahia, Rua Hormindo Barros, 58, Quadra 17, Lote 58, Vitória da Conquista 45029-094, Bahia, Brazil. freiremeloufba@gmail.com
Received: March 21, 2022
Peer-review started: March 21, 2022
First decision: May 11, 2022
Revised: May 27, 2022
Accepted: August 14, 2022
Article in press: August 14, 2022
Published online: September 22, 2022
Processing time: 184 Days and 23.5 Hours
Abstract

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection has been impacting healthcare in various ways worldwide and cancer patients are greatly affected by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. The reorganization of the health facilities in order to supply the high demand resulting from the aforementioned infection as well as the social isolation measures led to impairments for the diagnosis and follow-up of patients with gastrointestinal cancers, which has had an impact on the prognosis of the oncologic patients. In that context, health authorities and organizations have elaborated new guidelines with specific recommendations for the management of individuals with gastrointestinal neoplasms during the pandemic. Of note, oncologic populations seem to be more susceptible to unfavorable outcomes when exposed to SARS-CoV-2 infection and some interactions involving virus, tumor, host immune system and anticancer therapies are probably related to the poorer prognosis observed in those COVID-19 patients. Moreover, vaccination stands out as the main prevention method against severe SARS-CoV-2 infection and some particularities have been observed regarding the seroconversion of vaccinated oncologic patients including those with gastrointestinal malignancies. In this minireview, we gather updated information regarding the influence of the pandemic in the diagnosis of gastrointestinal neoplasms, new recommendations for the management of gastrointestinal cancer patients, the occurrence of SARS-CoV-2 infection in those individuals and the scenario of the vaccination against the virus in that population.

Keywords: Gastrointestinal cancer; COVID-19; Treatment; Diagnosis; Vaccination; Pandemic

Core Tip: The coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic has impacted the care of patients with serious chronic conditions such as cancer. In this minireview, we gather updated information regarding the influence of the pandemic in the diagnosis of gastrointestinal neoplasms, new recommendations for the management of gastrointestinal cancer patients, the occurrence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infection in those individuals and the scenario of the vaccination against the virus in that population.