scholarly journals Accurate Triage of Oncological Patients for Safely Continuing Cancer Therapy During the SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cristina Gurizzan ◽  
Rebecca Pedersini ◽  
Carla Fornaro ◽  
Chiara Sardini ◽  
Manuel Zamparini ◽  
...  

ObjectiveTo evaluate the efficacy of clinical triage of oncological patients for safe continuation of cancer therapy implemented during the first SARS-CoV-2 outbreak.MethodsBetween 25 February and 21 April 2020, patients attending the Medical Oncology Unit, Spedali Civili Hospital, Brescia (Italy) for cancer therapy underwent triage to identify those with no signs and symptoms suspicious for SARS-CoV-2 infection in which antineoplastic treatment could be continued as scheduled. Triage questions investigated common symptoms (e.g., fever, cough, dyspnea, anosmia, dysgeusia, headache, nasal congestion, conjunctival congestion, sore throat, diarrhea, nausea and vomiting); body temperature and pulse oximetry were also recorded. All patients were followed-up for overt SARS-CoV-2 through to 18th May 2020.ResultsOverall, 1180 patients (median age 65 years) underwent triage during the study period. The most frequent primary malignances were breast (32%), gastrointestinal (18%), and lung (16.5%) cancer. Thirty-one (2.5%) presented with clinically evident SARS-CoV-2 infection and tested positive on nasopharyngeal swab testing and/or radiological imaging. Triage identified 69 (6%) grey zone patients with symptoms suspicious for SARS-CoV-2; 5 (7.2%) subsequently developed symptomatic disease. Neither the symptomatic nor the grey zone patients received their scheduled treatment; instead, they were referred for hospitalization or home quarantine.ConclusionTriage of oncological patients at our Unit provided for safe continuation of scheduled cancer treatment in 91.5% of patients during the initial SARS-CoV-2 outbreak.

2021 ◽  
pp. 112067212199104
Author(s):  
Giuseppe D’Amico Ricci ◽  
Claudia Del Turco ◽  
Elena Belcastro ◽  
Marco Palisi ◽  
Mario R Romano ◽  
...  

Purpose: Although acute conjunctivitis has been listed from the beginning as a possible sign of COVID-19, the likelihood of this association remains unclear. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between COVID-19 and conjunctivitis. Methods: In this retrospective, observational study, we recruited all patients with signs and symptoms of acute conjunctivitis seen at the Eye Emergency Department (ED), Turin Eye Hospital, between 01/01/2020 and 12/05/2020 and cross-checked our data with the Piedmont Region online COVID-19 registry in the same period. Results: Among 10,065 patients seen at our ED during the timespan considered, 88 underwent a nasopharyngeal swab (NS) for SARS-CoV-2 detection within 4 weeks before/after our examination. On average, NS was performed −0.72 ± 1.8 weeks before/after eye examination. Of the 77 patients with a negative NS, 26 (33.8%) had a diagnosis of acute conjunctivitis, whereas the remaining 51 (66.2%) had other eye disorders. Among the 11 patients with COVID-19, 7 (63,6%) had a diagnosis of acute conjunctivitis. We found a non-statistically significant increase in NS positivity rate (21.2%) among cases examined at our ED for acute conjunctivitis, compared to the NS positivity rate (7.3%) in patients examined for all other eye conditions ( p = 0.092). The Odds Ratio of having a positive NS in patients with acute conjunctivitis was 3.43 (95% I.C. = 0.9–12.8, p = 0.06). Considering online-registry data of Turin population during the same time-span, among 2441 positive NS cases only 27 (1.1%) presented with acute conjunctivitis. Conclusion: Our results do not reveal a statistically significant correlation between COVID-19 and acute conjunctivitis. Synopsis The present study analyzes retrospectively data from a tertiary eye referral center to investigate the relationship between COVID-19 infection and conjunctivitis.


2021 ◽  
pp. 55-58
Author(s):  
Tamara Bezek ◽  
Petra Meliš ◽  
Bojana Kranjčec ◽  
Snježana Semenski ◽  
Kornelija Klenkar ◽  
...  

BACKGROUND: This study longitudinally evaluated the IgG response against the N-protein after the onset of COVID19 infection. We determined the kinetics and magnitude of the antibody response against SARS-CoV-2 in conrmed COVID-19 patients who were the rst infected with SARS-CoV-2 in Krapina-Zagorje county in northern Croatia. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We studied 177 blood specimens from 51 patients who tested positive by PCR for COVID-19 and provided longitudinal blood samples over a duration of several months, allowing to evaluate the IgG response against the N-protein. SARS-CoV-2 IgG assay was interpreted as positive (ratio1.4 S/C) or negative (ratio<1.4 S/C). RESULTS: The majority of subjects (48/51) reported symptomatic disease. Among the 49 patients who underwent serological antibody testing at rst time point (median: 47 days), 47/49 were positive for IgG 6.02 (0.24-10.54 S/C), while at sixth time point (median: 275 days) 4/16 patients were positive for IgG, 9/16 were in grey zone, and 3/16 were negative. Using Wilcoxon statistical analysis we found statistically signicant decrease of SARS-CoV-2 N-protein IgG indices between the rst and the sixth time point (median signal to cut-off ratio, S/C, 8.18 IQR 6.91, 9.51 to 0.94 IQR 0.56, 1.18, P=0.001). CONCLUSIONS: We claried the kinetics and magnitude of the antibody response against SARS-CoV-2 in conrmed COVID-19 patients. Our results provide critical evidence that N-protein IgG response persists in the majority of patients for at least six to eight months after COVID19 infection.


2010 ◽  
Vol 19 (Suppl 1) ◽  
pp. A61-A62
Author(s):  
M. Berhoune ◽  
H. Aboudagga ◽  
F. Julien ◽  
J. Stevens ◽  
L. Tripault ◽  
...  

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 20190064
Author(s):  
Antonino Cattafi ◽  
Mariacarmela Santarpia ◽  
Martina Francesca Micalizzi ◽  
Carmelo Sofia ◽  
Elvira Condorelli ◽  
...  

Cancer of unknown provenance is a rare disease, accounting approximately for up to 1% of all breast cancers. A 68-year-old female was admitted to the Medical Oncology Unit of Policlinico Universitario G.Martino because of diffused bone-involvement, with mixed (osteolytic/osteoblastic) features, which interested almost every skeletal structure of the body (vertebral bodies of the entire column, costal skeleton, sternum, proximal third of both humeri, scapulae, clavicles, pelvis and femurs), suspicious for metastatic disease.


2019 ◽  
Vol 120 (01) ◽  
pp. 15-18 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Bernadic ◽  
R. Duchon ◽  
R. Aziri ◽  
B. Mladosievicova

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