Background: The SARS-CoV-2 outbreak in Paris’ region significantly affected Gustave Roussy cancer center. Here, we report the Gustave Roussy experience during the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak. This outbreak has led to a rapid reorganization of cancer patients’ (pts) management, with two concurrent objectives. First, protect cancer pts, who may experience more severe form of the disease, from being infected by the SARS-CoV-2. Second, protect cancer pts from losing the chance to receive optimal, if not standard, cancer care.
Methods: Cancer pts with suspected SARS-CoV-2 infection were admitted at Gustave Roussy starting March, 12th. Screening indications have been adapted over the time. All the COVID19 pts positively tested and managed at Gustave Roussy between March 14th (1st positive case) and April 15th have been included in a redcap database. Pts and underlying oncological and COVID19 diseases characteristics have been collected. Cancer and COVID-19 managements, and outcomes have been assessed. The primary endpoint of this analysis was the clinical deterioration, defined as the need for O2 supplementation of 6l/min or more, or death of any cause.
Results: Overall, 7,251 cancer pts were managed at Gustave Roussy during this period of time, with 3616 being hospitalized. Based on our testing strategy, 1302 pts have been tested with 12% of them found positive for SARS-CoV-2. Among the first 137 cancer pts diagnosed with SARS-CoV-2, most cases were female (58%) with a median age of 61 years, including 36 pts (26%) ≥ 70 years. Most frequent underlying cancers were solid tumors (115) including breast (23), GI (18), head and neck (17), GU (17), GYN (17) malignancies or hemopathies (22). At time of COVID diagnosis, 79 pts (58%) had metastatic/active cancer and 56 pts (41%) were considered in remission/treated with curative intent. The diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 infection was made by RT-PCR or thoracic CT scan alone in 93.4% and 6.6% of the cases, respectively. The majority of the pts was hospitalized (75%) and treated with HCQ/AZI (40; 30%) with inclusion in the ONCOVID trial (EudraCT: 2020-01250-21), IL-6 inhibitor (10), antiviral (6) or steroids (13). Fifteen pts were admitted in ICU (11%). Clinical deterioration occurred in 34 pts (24.8%) and was associated with hematological underlying disease, CRP at diagnosis of COVID19 >50 and the use of cytotoxic chemotherapy within <3mo. At data cut-off (April, 20th 2020), 95 (69.3%), 20 (14.6%), and 22 (16.1%) pts were discharged, had died, or were still hospitalized, respectively. All the deaths were considered related to the SARS-CoV-2 infection.
Conclusions: Globally, the rate of the SARS-CoV-2 infection in our cancer patients’ population does not seem to be higher compared to the global population. We have not found evidence that COVID19 is more lethal or aggressive in cancer patients that underwent usual SARS-Cov-2 treatment. We believe that adequate testing and protective measures, along with the low rate of SARS-cov-2-treatment-related adverse events (5.5%), justify an optimal management of the cancer patients’ underlying tumor.
Citation Format: Fabrice Barlesi, Stéphanie Foulon, Arnauld Bayle, Bertrand Gachot, Fanny Pommeret, Christophe Willekens, Annabelle Stoclin, Mansouria Merad, Franck GriscelliI, Jean-Baptise Micol, Roger Sun, Thomas Nihouarn, Corinne Balleygier, Fabrice André, Florian Scotte, Benjamin Besse, Jean-Charles Soria, Laurence Albiges. Outcome of cancer patients infected with COVID-19, including toxicity of cancer treatments [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research 2020; 2020 Apr 27-28 and Jun 22-24. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2020;80(16 Suppl):Abstract nr CT403.
