TY - JOUR
T1 - Management of germ cell tumors during the outbreak of the novel coronavirus disease-19 pandemic
T2 - a survey of international expertise centers
AU - Nappi, Lucia
AU - Ottaviano, Margaret
AU - Rescigno, Pasquale
AU - Tortora, Marianna
AU - Banna, Giuseppe L.
AU - Baciarello, Giulia
AU - Basso, Umberto
AU - Canil, Christina
AU - Cavo, Alessia
AU - Rocca, Maria Cossu
AU - Czaykowski, Piotr
AU - De Giorgi, Ugo
AU - del Muro, Xavier Garcia
AU - Di Napoli, Marilena
AU - Fornarini, Giuseppe
AU - Gietema, Jourik A.
AU - Heng, Daniel Y.C.
AU - Hotte, Sebastien J.
AU - Kollmannsberger, Christian
AU - Maruzzo, Marco
AU - Messina, Carlo
AU - Morelli, Franco
AU - Mulder, Sasja
AU - Nichols, Craig
AU - Nolè, Franco
AU - Oing, Christoph
AU - Sava, Teodoro
AU - Secondino, Simona
AU - Simone, Giuseppe
AU - Soulieres, Denis
AU - Vincenzi, Bruno
AU - Zucali, Paolo A.
AU - De Placido, Sabino
AU - Palmieri, Giovannella
PY - 2020
Y1 - 2020
N2 - Background: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has become a public health. emergency, affecting frail populations including cancer patients. This poses the question as to. whether cancer treatments can be postponed or modified without compromising their efficacy, especially for highly curable cancers such as germ cell tumors (GCTs). Materials and methods: To depict the state of art management of GCTs during the COVID-19 pandemic a survey including 26 questions was circulated by e-mail among the physicians belonging to 3 cooperative groups: 1. Italian Germ cell cancer Group (IGG); 2. European G3 Domain (Rare male genito-urinary cancers); 3. Genitourinary Medical Oncologists of Canada (GUMOC). Percentages of agreement between I vs C, I vs E and E vs C were compared by using Fisher's exact tests for dichotomous answers and Chi square-test for trends for the questions with 3 or more options. Results: Fifty-three GCT experts responded to the survey: 20 Italian (I), 6 in other European (E) countries and 27 from Canada (C). Telemedicine was broadly utilized; there was high consensus to interrupt chemotherapy in COVID-positive patients (I=75%, C=55% and E=83.3%) and for G-CSF primary prophylaxis use for neutropenia (I=65%, C=62.9% and E=50%). Main differences emerged regarding the management of stage I and stage IIA disease, likely due to cultural and geographical differences. Conclusions: Our study highlights the common efforts of GCT experts in Europe and Canada to maintain high standards of treatment for GCT patients with few changes in their management during the COVID-19 pandemic. Implications for practice: Despite the chaos, disruptions and fears fomented by the Covid-19 illness, oncology care teams in Italy, other European countries and Canada are delivering the enormous promise of curative management strategies for patients with testicular cancer and other germ cell tumors. At the same time, these teams are applying safe and innovative solutions to minimize frequency and intensity on patient contacts with thinly stretched health care capacity and sharing best practices.
AB - Background: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has become a public health. emergency, affecting frail populations including cancer patients. This poses the question as to. whether cancer treatments can be postponed or modified without compromising their efficacy, especially for highly curable cancers such as germ cell tumors (GCTs). Materials and methods: To depict the state of art management of GCTs during the COVID-19 pandemic a survey including 26 questions was circulated by e-mail among the physicians belonging to 3 cooperative groups: 1. Italian Germ cell cancer Group (IGG); 2. European G3 Domain (Rare male genito-urinary cancers); 3. Genitourinary Medical Oncologists of Canada (GUMOC). Percentages of agreement between I vs C, I vs E and E vs C were compared by using Fisher's exact tests for dichotomous answers and Chi square-test for trends for the questions with 3 or more options. Results: Fifty-three GCT experts responded to the survey: 20 Italian (I), 6 in other European (E) countries and 27 from Canada (C). Telemedicine was broadly utilized; there was high consensus to interrupt chemotherapy in COVID-positive patients (I=75%, C=55% and E=83.3%) and for G-CSF primary prophylaxis use for neutropenia (I=65%, C=62.9% and E=50%). Main differences emerged regarding the management of stage I and stage IIA disease, likely due to cultural and geographical differences. Conclusions: Our study highlights the common efforts of GCT experts in Europe and Canada to maintain high standards of treatment for GCT patients with few changes in their management during the COVID-19 pandemic. Implications for practice: Despite the chaos, disruptions and fears fomented by the Covid-19 illness, oncology care teams in Italy, other European countries and Canada are delivering the enormous promise of curative management strategies for patients with testicular cancer and other germ cell tumors. At the same time, these teams are applying safe and innovative solutions to minimize frequency and intensity on patient contacts with thinly stretched health care capacity and sharing best practices.
KW - cancer
KW - COVID-19
KW - curable tumors
KW - expert centers
KW - germ cell tumors
KW - pandemic testicular
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UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85090939205&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1634/theoncologist.2020-0420
DO - 10.1634/theoncologist.2020-0420
M3 - Article
C2 - 32735386
AN - SCOPUS:85090939205
VL - 25
JO - Oncologist
JF - Oncologist
SN - 1083-7159
IS - 10
ER -