What Experts Think About Prostate Cancer Management During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Report from the Advanced Prostate Cancer Consensus Conference 2021

Fabio Turco,Maha Hussain,Robin Millman,Anders Bjartell,Susan Halabi,Alberto Bossi,Rob Jones,Ros Eeles,Ian D Davis,Robert E Reiter,Christopher Parker,Hirotsugu Uemura,Nicolas Mottet,Dan George,Alicia K Morgans,Juan Pablo Sade,Hiroyoshi Suzuki,Howard I Scher,Colin C Pritchard,Bertrand Tombal,Raya Leibowitz,Daniel Spratt,Christopher P Evans,Derya Tilki,Daniel Heinrich,Ngozi Ekeke Onyeanunam,Fred Saad,Muhammad Bulbul,Laurence Klotz,Aurelius Omlin,Orazio Caffo,Hind Mrabti,Christopher Sweeney,Vedang Murthy,Piet Ost,Oliver Sartor,Martin Gleave,Anwar R Padhani,Ravindran Kanesvaran,Tomasz M Beer,Cora N Sternberg,Michael J Morris,Kosj Yamoah,Alberto Briganti,Charles J Ryan,Silke Gillessen,Caroline Clarke,Gerhardt Attard,Raja B Khauli,Hiroji Uemura,Stefano Fanti,Eleni Efstathiou,Mark Frydenberg,Felix Y Feng,Dingwei Ye,Karim Fizazi,Himisha Beltran,Iwona Skoneczna,William Oh ,Nicholas D James ,A Zapatero ,Neal D Shore ,Declan Murphy ,Ignacio Durán ,R Bristow ,Johann S De Bono ,Joe M O’sullivan ,Jason A Efstathiou ,Mark A Rubin ,Darren Ming-Chun Poon ,Fernando C Maluf ,Meredith Smith ,Levent Türkeri ,Howard R Soule ,Eric J Small ,Dana E Rathkopf ,Christopher J Logothetis ,Noel W Clarke ,Celestia S Higano ,Kim N ,Matthew R Sydes ,Michael S Hofman ,Danny Rabah ,Axel Heidenreich ,Inge M Van Oort ,Andrew J Armstrong ,Mary‐Ellen Taplin

doi:10.1016/j.eururo.2022.02.010

Abstract

Patients with advanced prostate cancer (APC) may be at greater risk for severe illness, hospitalisation, or death from coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) due to male gender, older age, potential immunosuppressive treatments, or comorbidities. Thus, the optimal management of APC patients during the COVID-19 pandemic is complex. In October 2021, during the Advanced Prostate Cancer Consensus Conference (APCCC) 2021, the 73 voting members of the panel members discussed and voted on 13 questions on this topic that could help clinicians make treatment choices during the pandemic. There was a consensus for full COVID-19 vaccination and booster injection in APC patients. Furthermore, the voting results indicate that the expert’s treatment recommendations are influenced by the vaccination status: the COVID-19 pandemic altered management of APC patients for 70% of the panellists before the vaccination was available but only for 25% of panellists for fully vaccinated patients. Most experts (71%) were less likely to use docetaxel and abiraterone in unvaccinated patients with metastatic hormone-sensitive prostate cancer. For fully vaccinated patients with high-risk localised prostate cancer, there was a consensus (77%) to follow the usual treatment schedule, whereas in unvaccinated patients, 55% of the panel members voted for deferring radiation therapy. Finally, there was a strong consensus for the use of telemedicine for monitoring APC patients. Patient summaryIn the Advanced Prostate Cancer Consensus Conference 2021, the panellists reached a consensus regarding the recommendation of the COVID-19 vaccine in prostate cancer patients and use of telemedicine for monitoring these patients.

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