Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Jan 6;14(2):266.
doi: 10.3390/cancers14020266.

The Impact of COVID-19 on the Delivery of Systemic Anti-Cancer Treatment at Guy's Cancer Centre

Beth Russell  1 , Charlotte Moss  1 , Eirini Tsotra  2 , Charalampos Gousis  2 , Debra Josephs  2 , Deborah Enting  2 , Christina Karampera  2 , Muhammad Khan  2 , Jose Roca  2 , Ailsa Sita-Lumsden  2 , Kasia Owczarczyk  3 , Harriet Wylie  1 , Anna Haire  1 , Daniel Smith  3 , Kamarul Zaki  2 , Angela Swampillai  3 , Mary Lei  3 , Vishal Manik  3 , Vasiliki Michalarea  2 , Rebecca Kristeleit  2 , Anca Mera  4 , Elinor Sawyer  3 , Lucy Flanders  2 , Irene De Francesco  3 , Sophie Papa  2   5 , Paul Ross  2 , James Spicer  2   6 , Bill Dann  4 , Vikash Jogia  4 , Nisha Shaunak  6 , Hartmut Kristeleit  2 , Anne Rigg  2 , Ana Montes  2 , Mieke Van Hemelrijck  1 , Saoirse Dolly  2
Affiliations

The Impact of COVID-19 on the Delivery of Systemic Anti-Cancer Treatment at Guy's Cancer Centre

Beth Russell et al. Cancers (Basel). .

Abstract

Background: This study aimed to assess the outcome of cancer patients undergoing systemic anti-cancer treatment (SACT) at our centre to help inform future clinical decision-making around SACT during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods: Patients receiving at least one episode of SACT for solid tumours at Guy's Cancer Centre between 1 March and 31 May 2020 and the same period in 2019 were included in the study. Data were collected on demographics, tumour type/stage, treatment type (chemotherapy, immunotherapy, biological-targeted) and SARS-CoV2 infection.

Results: A total of 2120 patients received SACT in 2020, compared to 2449 in 2019 (13% decrease). From 2019 to 2020, there was an increase in stage IV disease (62% vs. 72%), decrease in chemotherapy (42% vs. 34%), increase in immunotherapy (6% vs. 10%), but similar rates of biologically targeted treatments (37% vs. 38%). There was a significant increase in 1st and 2nd line treatments in 2020 (68% vs. 81%; p < 0.0001) and reduction in 3rd and subsequent lines (26% vs. 15%; p = 0.004) compared to 2019. Of the 2020 cohort, 2% patients developed SARS-CoV2 infections.

Conclusions: These real-world data from a tertiary Cancer Centre suggest that despite the challenges faced due to the COVID-19 pandemic, SACT was able to be continued without any significant effects on the mortality of solid-tumour patients. There was a low rate (2%) of SARS-CoV-2 infection which is comparable to the 1.4%-point prevalence in our total cancer population.

Keywords: COVID-19; oncology; systemic anti-cancer treatment.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

References

    1. Liang W., Guan W., Chen R., Wang W., Li J., Xu K., Li C., Ai Q., Lu W., Liang H., et al. Cancer patients in SARS-CoV-2 infection: A nationwide analysis in China. Lancet Oncol. 2020;21:335–337. doi: 10.1016/S1470-2045(20)30096-6. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Russell B., Moss C., Papa S., Irshad S., Ross P., Spicer J., Kordasti S., Crawley D., Wylie H., Cahill F., et al. Factors Affecting COVID-19 Outcomes in Cancer Patients: A First Report from Guy’s Cancer Center in London. Front. Oncol. 2020;10:1279. doi: 10.3389/fonc.2020.01279. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. De Joode K., Dumoulin D.W., Tol J., Westgeest H.M., Beerepoot L.V., van den Berkmortel F.W.P.J., Mutsaers P.G.N.J., van Diemen N.G.J., Visser O.J., Hoop E.O., et al. Dutch Oncology COVID-19 consortium: Outcome of COVID-19 in patients with cancer in a nationwide cohort study. Eur. J. Cancer. 2020;141:171–184. doi: 10.1016/j.ejca.2020.09.027. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Lièvre A., Turpin A., Ray-Coquard I., Le Malicot K., Thariat J., Ahle G., Neuzillet C., Paoletti X., Bouché O., Aldabbagh K., et al. Risk factors for Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) severity and mortality among solid cancer patients and impact of the disease on anticancer treatment: A French nationwide cohort study (GCO-002 CACOVID-19) Eur. J. Cancer. 2020;141:62–81. doi: 10.1016/j.ejca.2020.09.035. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Yekedüz E., Utkan G., Ürün Y. A systematic review and meta-analysis: The effect of active cancer treatment on severity of COVID-19. Eur. J. Cancer. 2020;141:92–104. doi: 10.1016/j.ejca.2020.09.028. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources