No added risks to radiation therapy for cancer patients with COVID-19, says study
Some are especially vulnerable to severe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). These include the elderly, people with comorbidities like hypertension, heart disease, diabetes, and obesity, and those with weakened immune systems, such as cancer patients undergoing treatment.
Most studies have tackled more on the vulnerability of people with underlying health conditions. There are limited studies about how coronavirus infection impacts cancer patients undergoing treatment, including chemotherapy and radiation.
A team of radiation oncologists at the Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell in the United States aimed to determine if COVID-19 infected cancer patients receiving radiation therapy (RT) have any different outcome than non-infected patients.