Delayed diagnosis and treatment of children with cancer during the COVID-19 pandemic
| Autor: | Helen Toledano, Adi Shapira, Shai Izraeli, Sarah Elitzur, Amos Toren, Oded Gilad, Gil Gilad, Sigal Weinreb, Shifra Ash, Gal Goldstein, Michal Dvori, Shirah Amar, Shlomit Barzilai-Birenboim, Assaf A. Barg |
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| Rok vydání: | 2021 |
| Předmět: |
0301 basic medicine
2019-20 coronavirus outbreak Pediatrics medicine.medical_specialty Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) Pediatric cancer Delayed treatment Delayed diagnosis 03 medical and health sciences 0302 clinical medicine Surgical oncology Pandemic Medicine business.industry Cancer COVID-19 Hematology General Medicine medicine.disease Family member 030104 developmental biology Oncology 030220 oncology & carcinogenesis Surgery Original Article business |
| Zdroj: | International Journal of Clinical Oncology |
| ISSN: | 1437-7772 |
| Popis: | Background: COVID-19, the novel coronavirus has caused a global pandemic affecting millions of people around the world. Although children, including children with cancer, have been found to be affected less commonly and less severely than adults, indirect effects of the pandemic on the diagnosis and treatment of children with cancer have been less described. Methods: A survey was performed in the four largest tertiary pediatric hematology-oncology medical centers in Israel. Clinical and laboratory data were collected from the medical files of patients diagnosed or treated with cancer during April-October 2020. Results: Seventeen patients are described, who had significant delay in diagnosis or treatment of cancer. These represent approximately 10% of all the pediatric cancer diagnosed during the study period in these centers. A main cause of delay was fear of exposure to COVID-19 (fears felt by the patient, parent, physician, or decision-makers at the institution; or the implementation of national guidelines). Delays also resulted from co-infection with COVID-19 and the attribution of the oncologic symptoms to the infection. In addition, treatment was delayed of patients already diagnosed with cancer, due to COVID-19 infection detected in the patient, a family member, or a bone marrow donor. Conclusion: Fear from the COVID-19 pandemic may result in delayed diagnosis and treatment of children with cancer, which may carry a risk to dismal prognosis. It is crucial that pediatricians and patients alike remember that other diseases still prevail and must be thought of and treated in a timely fashion. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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