Review
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2020.
World J Clin Cases. Aug 26, 2020; 8(16): 3390-3404
Published online Aug 26, 2020. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v8.i16.3390
Table 1 Retrospective reports about cancer patients with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infection
Ref.n1Mean ageOutcomesResults
Liang et al[74], 20201863Severe clinical events (ICU admission and mechanical ventilation or death)Severe clinical events: 39% (7/18 patients) vs 8% (126/1572 patients without cancer) (P = 0.0003)
Zhang et al[72], 20202865Severe clinical events (ICU admission, life-threatening complications or death)Severe clinical events: 53.6% (15/28 patients). Death rate: 28.6% (8/28 patients)
Dai et al[75], 202010564Death rate, ICU admission and severe or critical symptomDeath rate: 11.4% (OR 2.34, P = 0.03); ICU admission: 19.0% (OR 2.84, P < 0.01); Severe or critical symptom: 34.3% (OR 2.79, P < 0.01)
Barlesi et al[79], 2020213761ICU admission or deathICU admission: 11.0% (15/137 patients); Death rate: 14.6% (20/137patients)
Yang et al[76], 202020563ICU admission or deathICU admission: 15.0% (30/205 patients); Death rate: 20.0% (40/205 patients)
Kuderer et al[77], 202092866ICU admission, mechanical ventilation or deathICU admission: 14.2% (132/928 patients); Mechanical ventilation: 12.5% (116/928 patients); Death rate: 13.0% (121/928patients)
Garassino et al[78], 2020320068ICU admission, mechanical ventilation in hospitalised patient and death in all patientsICU admission: 8.8% (13/147 patients); Mechanical ventilation: 6.1% (9/147 patients); Death rate: 33.0% (66/200 patients)
Table 2 Proposal for an approach to cancer therapies that should be prioritized in the event of a pandemic
PriorityClinical scenarioExamples
HighTumors with high early mortality associated and high response rate to treatmentAdvanced germ cell tumors, lymphomas or acute leukemias
Definitive curative cancer treatmentsCRT for head and neck, cervical or anal cancers
IntermediateNeoadjuvant or adjuvant therapies with high survival benefitPerioperative ChT for gastric cancer and neoadjuvant CRT for localized rectal cancer. Adjuvant ChT for stage III or high risk stage II colorectal cancer, or stage III melanoma. ChT and RT for high risk breast cancer
Neoadjuvant or adjuvant indications with modest survival benefitNeoadjuvant ChT for muscle invasive bladder cancer. Adjuvant ChT for NSCLC, gallbladder and pancreatic cancer or gynecologic malignancies
Palliative indications with high survival benefitImmunotherapy for melanoma, NSCLC (with PDL1 > 50%) or high risk kidney cancer. Systemic ChT for metastatic breast or colorectal cancer. Molecular targeted therapy for NSCLC with driver mutation. TKI for GIST or low risk kidney cancer, and ADT and abiraterone or docetaxel for castrate-sensitive prostate cancer
LowPalliative indications with modest survival benefitPalliative chemotherapy for upper gastrointestinal cancers. Chemotherapy for gallbladder or pancreatic cancer, SCLC or bladder cancer
Palliative indications without benefits in terms of overall survivalSecond and third line palliative ChT for many solid tumors, as regorafenib for colorectal cancer or ramucirumab and placlitaxel for gastric cancer