Abstract
Simple SummaryThis article presents the protective measures put in place at the “Institut de Cancérologie des Hospices de Lyon” (IC-HCL) during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in France (spring 2020) and how they impacted IC-HCL clinical activity. Spring 2020 activities were compared to winter 2019–2020. This article presents the protective measures put in place at the “Institut de Cancérologie des Hospices de Lyon” (IC-HCL) during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in France (spring 2020) and how they impacted IC-HCL clinical activity. Spring 2020 activities were compared to winter 2019–2020. Results showed a decrease of activity of 9% for treatment dispensations, 17% for multidisciplinary team meetings, 20% for head and neck and thoracic surgeries, and 58% for new patient enrolment in clinical trials. Characteristics of patients treated for solid cancer and hospitalized for COVID-19 during spring 2020 were collected in a retrospective study. Mortality was attributed to COVID-19 for half of the cases, 82% being patients above 70 and 73% being stage IV. This is in concordance with current findings concluding that the risk of developing severe or critical symptoms of COVID-19 is correlated with factors co-occurring in cancer patients and not to the cancer condition per se. While a number of routines and treatment regimens were changed, there was no major decline in numbers of treatments conducted at the IC-HCL during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic that hit France between March and May 2020, except for clinical trials and some surgery activities.
Highlights
On 31 December 2019, the World Health Organization (WHO) was informed about the first “cases of pneumonia of unknown etiology” (later identified as the SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19))
Month; weekly 80 mg/m2 paclitaxel was replaced by 175 mg/m2 paclitaxel with granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) every 3 weeks; cancelation of 1/2 trastuzumab/cetuximab administration for patients having received maintenance treatment for several months/year(s)); switch of the type of the molecule to reduce the duration of the hospitalization; and generalizatio4nofo9f G-CSF prescription—even in patients with low-risk of febrile neutropenia
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Summary
On 31 December 2019, the World Health Organization (WHO) was informed about the first “cases of pneumonia of unknown etiology” (later identified as the SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19)). The virus was confirmed to have reached Europe on 24 January 2020, when the first COVID-19 case was identified in France. On 30 January 2020, the virus was identified in Italy, followed by a wave of massive infections in the north of Italy, putting its healthcare system on the edge of breaking. A similar situation was observed in France, with an unprecedented swell of patients’ hospitalization, ICU beds saturation, and medical staff shortage, leading to a total lockdown between 17 March 2020 and 11 May 2020. In France, the first guidelines to ensure patient protection and make oncology departments “sanctuaries” free of COVID-19 were released on 25 March 2020 [1]. The recommendations were largely based on the Chinese experience, and on worrisome data from Italy
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