Why Guidance for treating prostate cancer patients during COVID-19 is important
Goal – protect vulnerable patients from potentially fatal infection without jeopardizing cancer treatments
Cancer Patients generally are at increased risk due to:
- Inherent, vulnerable state that varies based on degree of prior therapy (if any), if the patient is on active therapy or in the presence or absence of contributing comorbidities and advancing age
- Immunocompromised patients are at a high risk of infections
- The long-term impact of COVID-19 on patient outcomes is not fully understood
- The timing and impact of multiple waves and delivery of a vaccine is not known
- In the absence of effective and continued containment measures, COVID-19 outbreaks can lead to a patient load exceeding capacity of centres/system
Prostate Cancer patients in particular are vulnerable
- The median age of patients at diagnosis is 60+ years with multiple comorbidities common
- Over the course of their disease, cancer patients are managed and/or treated by different specialists. (This is especially true in prostate cancer where, urologists in community of practice, urologists, radiation oncologists, and medical oncologists may also be involved as cancer progresses)
- In a period where patient load is decreased to manage risks of COVID-19, planning for/identifying markers of patient progression
