Haematological malignancies implications during the times of the COVID-19 pandemic

Eleni Papakonstantinou; Konstantina Dragoumani; Aspasia Efthimiadou; Anastasia Marina Palaiogeorgou; Katerina Pierouli; Thanasis Mitsis; George P Chrousos; Flora Bacopoulou; Dimitrios Vlachakis

doi:10.3892/ol.2021.13117

Haematological malignancies implications during the times of the COVID-19 pandemic

Oncol Lett. 2021 Dec;22(6):856. doi: 10.3892/ol.2021.13117. Epub 2021 Oct 29.

Affiliations

¹ Laboratory of Genetics, Department of Biotechnology, School of Applied Biology and Biotechnology, Agricultural University of Athens, 11855 Athens, Greece.
² Hellenic Agricultural Organization-Demeter, Institute of Soil and Water Resources, Department of Soil Science of Athens, 14123 Lycovrisi, Greece.
³ University Research Institute of Maternal and Child Health and Precision Medicine, and UNESCO Chair on Adolescent Health Care, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Aghia Sophia Children's Hospital, 11527 Athens, Greece.
⁴ Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Center of Clinical, Experimental Surgery and Translational Research, Biomedical Research Foundation of the Academy of Athens, 11527 Athens, Greece.

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has complicated current healthcare services for cancer patients. Patients with haematological malignancies specifically seem vulnerable to SARS-CoV-2 infection due to their immunosuppressed status. The COVID-19 pandemic influences every step of the assessment and treatment of a haematological malignancy. Clinicians must adhere to strict policies to not spread the virus to their patients while they must also adjust their workflow for maximum productivity. These difficulties accentuate the ever-present need to improve the healthcare services for cancer patients. This improvement is needed not only to combat the problems that arose from the COVID-19 pandemic but also to establish a framework for the management of patients with haematological malignancies in potential future pandemics.

Keywords: COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; cancer; haematological; healthcare services; malignancies; pandemic; translational genetics.

Publication types

Review

Grants and funding

This research was supported by the European and Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership (EDCTP2) under the Horizon 2020 ‘Research and Innovation Actions’ DESCA (grant no. RIA2018EF-2081), and the European Regional Development Fund of the European Union and Greek national funds through the Operational Program Competitiveness, Entrepreneurship and Innovation, under the call RESEARCH-CREATE-INNOVATE (grant no. T2EDK-02222).