Estimating the Risks from COVID-19 Infection in Adult Chemotherapy Patients

Matt Williams; Kerlann Le Calvez; Ella Mi; Jiarong Chen; Seema Dadhania; Lillie Pakzad-Shahabi

is the (which was not peer-reviewed) The copyright holder for this preprint . https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.03. 18.20038067 doi: medRxiv preprint cult, as the relative benefits of (for example) longer vs. shorter courses of adjuvant chemotherapy have often not been explored in randomised trials. Where they have been, it may be worth exploring the incremental benefit in light of the increased risk. At the very least, because informed consent relies in part on understanding the balance between risk and benefit, given that the risk has changed, we would suggest confirming informed consent in patients who are continuing on chemotherapy. Non-cytotoxic agents (e.g. immunotherapy and bisphosphonates) almost certainly have different risk profiles. Nonetheless, there are some common concerns with patients receiving cytotoxic agents, in that they still attend hosptials, and may not be able to access care if services are overwhelmed.