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Acute leukemia in the time of COVID-19

2020; Elsevier BV; Volume: 92; Linguagem: Inglês

10.1016/j.leukres.2020.106353

1873-5835

Mathilde Gavillet, Jeanette Carr Klappert, Olivier Spertini, Sabine Blum,

COVID-19 and healthcare impacts

Acute leukemia in the time of COVID-19The occurrence of the current COVID-19 pandemic, caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), is an unparalleled challenge for the medical community and we must all rise to be of best service to the patients and our communities.COVID-19′s mortality rate is difficult to quantify as it varies with the characteristics of the considered population, notably patients' demographics and health-care resources.Mortality rises among older people and those with underlying conditions.The true impact of underlying immunosuppression is controversial.Initial reports from China suggested that patients with cancer had a higher risk of severe events (ICU admission, invasive ventilation or death) as compared to patients without cancer (39 % vs 8 %) [1].Other data, based on post-transplantation cohorts, argue that, unlike common viral agents, coronaviruses do not cause more severe disease in immunosuppressed patients as the host innate immune response appears to be the main driver of lung tissue damage during infection [2].With the present paper, we intend to delineate the possible impact of the current COVID-19 pandemic on patients with acute leukemia in terms of diagnosis, chemotherapy, bone marrow transplantation, maintenance treatments, supportive measures and targeted therapies, as well as ways to mitigate it.