Challenges in treatment of patients with acute leukemia and COVID-19: a series of 12 patients

Blood Adv. 2020 Dec 8;4(23):5936-5941. doi: 10.1182/bloodadvances.2020002543.

Authors

Susanne Ghandili¹, Susanne Pfefferle², Kevin Roedl³, Piet Sonnemann¹, Panagiotis Karagiannis¹, Olaf Boenisch³, Stefan Kluge³, Stefan Schmiedel⁴, Harald Ittrich⁵, Holger Rohde², Marc Lütgehetmann², Katja Weisel¹, Carsten Bokemeyer¹, Dominic Wichmann³, Walter Fiedler¹, Dominik Jarczak³, Franziska Modemann¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Oncology, Hematology and Bone Marrow Transplantation with Section Pneumology, II. Department of Internal Medicine.
² Institute of Medical Microbiology, Virology and Hygiene.
³ Department of Intensive Care Medicine.
⁴ Division of Infectious Diseases, I. Department of Internal Medicine, and.
⁵ Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany.

Abstract

Patients with acute leukemia present with a prolonged and severe course of COVID-19, which is paralleled by high rates of viremia.
Low-intensive chemotherapy seems to be more feasible in patients with acute myeloid leukemia and concomitant SARS-CoV-2 infection.

MeSH terms

Adult
Aged
Antimetabolites, Antineoplastic / therapeutic use*
Azacitidine / therapeutic use
COVID-19 / complications
COVID-19 / diagnosis*
COVID-19 / virology
Cytarabine / therapeutic use*
Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation
Female
Humans
Leukemia, B-Cell / complications
Leukemia, B-Cell / drug therapy
Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute / complications
Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute / drug therapy*
Male
Middle Aged
RNA, Viral / metabolism
Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction
SARS-CoV-2 / genetics
SARS-CoV-2 / isolation & purification
Treatment Outcome

Substances

Antimetabolites, Antineoplastic
RNA, Viral
Cytarabine
Azacitidine