Anticancer drugs and COVID-19 antiviral treatments in cancer patients: what can we safely use?

Ce dossier présente un ensemble d'articles concernant la prise en charge des cancers durant la crise sanitaire liée au COVID-19

Résumé en anglais

The rapid emergence of COVID-19 pandemics worldwide is of particular concern for fragile populations who are more at risk of acute respiratory distress syndrome and death. Patients treated for malignant hemopathy and solid cancers have a four times higher risk of hospitalization due to influenza infection, and a ten times higher risk of death. This fragility could be due to their age, multiple associated comorbidities, lymphopenia, or the immunosuppressive action of a broad spectrum of anticancer drugs.1 Therefore, anticancer drugs should be used carefully in this population. Without further safety data, it might be unsafe to treat SARS-CoV-2 positive patients who have COVID-19 symptoms with anticancer drugs known to increase infections or harvesting immunosuppressive properties. We summarized in the table (part A) drug classes that have been reported to increase either neutropenia or infections. Regarding patients tested positive who have recovered from their symptoms, clinical data is missing. It is currently not clear if cancer treatments should be stopped, and if so, the time needed to resume it safely.(...)