MADRID, 20 May. (EUROPA PRESS) –
Cancer drugs that weaken the body’s immune defenses are no more likely to increase the risk of Covid-19 infection or death than breast cancer therapies that do not undermine the immune system, according to a new study published in the journal ‘JCO Global Oncology’. The researchers say the results challenge initial concerns that such treatments, which poison cancer cells, were too dangerous to continue during the pandemic.
Led by researchers at NYU Langone Health and its Perlmutter Cancer Center in the United States, the new research, involving more than 3,000 women treated for breast cancer at the height of the pandemic in New York City, showed that only 64, 2%, contracted the virus. Of this group, 10 died from COVID-19, a figure that, according to the study authors, is low and expected for this age group, regardless of cancer.
Those receiving cytotoxic, or cell-killing chemotherapy, were at roughly the same risk of coronavirus infection as those taking other classes of drugs with minimal impact on immune system defenses.
“Our results demonstrate that patients can safely receive breast cancer therapy, including chemotherapy, during the pandemic,” says study principal investigator and Perlmutter Cancer Center medical oncologist Douglas Marks.
“As long as patients continue to take reasonable precautions, such as the use of masks and social distancing, they should feel safe to continue the treatment plan they have chosen with their doctors,” adds the study’s principal investigator and a medical oncologist at the cancer center, Sylvia. Adams.
At the start of the coronavirus pandemic in spring 2020, the lack of information on risk factors for Covid-19 infection for these patients led to delays in treatment. According to the study authors, many physicians were especially concerned about administering standard chemotherapy regimens, which could make patients more vulnerable to the virus. Consequently, some delayed or even avoided treatment.
The new study, presented online June 4 at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, is believed to be the first large-scale investigation to directly assess whether breast cancer therapies affect the risk of infection and death from coronavirus, according to Adams.
For the study, study researchers reviewed the medical records of breast cancer patients who received chemotherapy or other drug therapies between February and May 2020 at the Perlmutter Cancer Center in New York City and Long Island. Next, the researchers analyzed information that included COVID-19 test results, the extent of the cancer, the presence of other diseases, and survival.
Among the study results, the risk of coronavirus infection among breast cancer patients who received chemotherapy was no greater than the risk for those who received treatments that were not supposed to hamper their immune systems. The treatment also did not increase the risk of death from COVID-19.
In addition, the study showed that elderly and overweight patients continued to have an increased risk of dying from coronavirus infection, a finding that is consistent with previous research on mortality from COVID-19, according to the researchers.
Adams, also director of the Perlmutter Breast Cancer Center, cautions that the coronavirus pandemic is evolving rapidly and that precautions against infection should be maintained in cancer centers.
Marks, an adjunct professor in the Department of Medicine at New York University’s Long Island School of Medicine, notes that it is not yet clear whether these conclusions will be valid in the case of novel variants of the coronavirus, which the research team has yet to do. you have to investigate. Marks is also the medical director of the office of cancer clinical trials at Langone Hospital.
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