A review of the international early recommendations for departments organization and cancer management priorities during the global COVID-19 pandemic: applicability in low- and middle-income countries

Yazid Belkacemi; Noemie Grellier; Sahar Ghith; Kamel Debbi; Gabriele Coraggio; Adda Bounedjar; Redouane Samlali; Pauletta G Tsoutsou; Mahmut Ozsahin; Marie-Pierre Chauvet; Sedat Turkan; Hamouda Boussen; Abraham Kuten; Dusanka Tesanovic; Hassan Errihani; Farouk Benna; Kamel Bouzid; Ahmed Idbaih; Karima Mokhtari; Lazar Popovic; Jean-Philippe Spano; Jean-Pierre Lotz; Aziz Cherif; Hahn To; Vladimir Kovcin; Oliver Arsovski; Semir Beslija; Radan Dzodic; Ivan Markovic; Suzana Vasovic; Liljana Stamatovic; Davorin Radosavljevic; Sinisa Radulovic; Damir Vrbanec; Souha Sahraoui; Nino Vasev; Igor Stojkovski; Milan Risteski; Salvador Villà Freixa; Marco Krengli; Nina Radosevic; Giorgio Mustacchi; Mladen Filipovic; Khaldoun Kerrou; Alphonse G Taghian; Vladimir Todorovic; Fady Geara; Joseph Gligorov

doi:10.1016/j.ejca.2020.05.015

A review of the international early recommendations for departments organization and cancer management priorities during the global COVID-19 pandemic: applicability in low- and middle-income countries

Eur J Cancer. 2020 Aug:135:130-146. doi: 10.1016/j.ejca.2020.05.015. Epub 2020 Jun 8.

Authors

Yazid Belkacemi¹, Noemie Grellier², Sahar Ghith², Kamel Debbi², Gabriele Coraggio², Adda Bounedjar³, Redouane Samlali⁴, Pauletta G Tsoutsou⁵, Mahmut Ozsahin⁶, Marie-Pierre Chauvet⁷, Sedat Turkan⁸, Hamouda Boussen⁹, Abraham Kuten¹⁰, Dusanka Tesanovic¹¹, Hassan Errihani¹², Farouk Benna¹³, Kamel Bouzid¹⁴, Ahmed Idbaih¹⁵, Karima Mokhtari¹⁶, Lazar Popovic¹⁷, Jean-Philippe Spano¹⁸, Jean-Pierre Lotz¹⁹, Aziz Cherif², Hahn To², Vladimir Kovcin²⁰, Oliver Arsovski²¹, Semir Beslija²², Radan Dzodic²³, Ivan Markovic²³, Suzana Vasovic²⁴, Liljana Stamatovic²⁴, Davorin Radosavljevic²⁴, Sinisa Radulovic²⁵, Damir Vrbanec²⁶, Souha Sahraoui²⁷, Nino Vasev²⁸, Igor Stojkovski²⁸, Milan Risteski²⁸, Salvador Villà Freixa²⁹, Marco Krengli³⁰, Nina Radosevic³¹, Giorgio Mustacchi³², Mladen Filipovic³³, Khaldoun Kerrou³⁴, Alphonse G Taghian³⁵, Vladimir Todorovic³⁶, Fady Geara³⁷, Joseph Gligorov¹⁹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Radiation Oncology and Henri Mondor Breast Center, APHP, INSERM Unit 955 Team 21, University of Paris-Est Creteil (UPEC), France. Electronic address: [email protected].
² Department of Radiation Oncology and Henri Mondor Breast Center, APHP, INSERM Unit 955 Team 21, University of Paris-Est Creteil (UPEC), France.
³ Department of Medical Oncology, Université Blida 1. Laboratoire de Cancérologie, Faculté de Médecine, Blida, Algeria.
⁴ Department of Radiation Oncology, Clinique du Littoral, Casablanca, Morocco.
⁵ Department of Radiation Oncology, Geneva University Hospitals, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.
⁶ Department of Radiation Oncology, Lausanne University Medical Center and University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland.
⁷ Department of Surgery, Oscar Lambret Comprehensive Cancer Center, Unicancer, Lille, France.
⁸ Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Cerrahpasa, Istanbul, Turkey.
⁹ Department of Medical Oncology, University Hospital Abderrahman Mami, Ariana, Tunisia.
¹⁰ Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel.
¹¹ Department of Radiation Oncology, Oncology Institute of Vojvodina, Faculty of Medicine Novi Sad, University of Novi Sad, Serbia.
¹² Department of Medical Oncology, University of Rabat, Rabat, Morocco.
¹³ Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Tunis, Tunis, Tunisia.
¹⁴ Department of Medical Oncology, Pierre et Marie Curie, Comprehensive Cancer Center University of Algiers, Algiers, Algeria.
¹⁵ Department of Neuro-Oncology, Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital, Institut Universitaire de Cancérologie AP-HP. Sorbonne University, Paris, France.
¹⁶ Department of Neuropathologie, Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital, Institut Universitaire de Cancérologie AP-HP. Sorbonne University, Paris, France.
¹⁷ Department of Medical Oncology, University of Novi Sad, Novi Sad, Serbia.
¹⁸ Department of Medical Oncology, Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital, Institut Universitaire de Cancérologie AP-HP. Sorbonne University, Paris, France.
¹⁹ Department of Medical Oncology, Tenon Hospital, Institut Universitaire de Cancérologie AP-HP. Sorbonne University, Paris, France.
²⁰ Department of Medical Oncology, Oncomed, Belgrade, Serbia.
²¹ Department of Radiation Oncology, International Medical Center AFFIDEA, Banja Luka, Bosnia and Hercegovina.
²² Department of Medical Oncology, Clinical Center of Sarajevo, University of Sarajevo, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
²³ Department of Surgery, Oncology and Radiology Institute of Serbia, Belgrade, Serbia.
²⁴ Department of Medical Oncology, Oncology and Radiology Institute of Serbia, Belgrade, Serbia.
²⁵ Department of Molecular Oncology, Oncology and Radiology Institute of Serbia, Belgrade, Serbia.
²⁶ School of Medicine, Juraj Dobrila University of Pula, Radiochirurgia Special Oncology Hospital, Croatia.
²⁷ Ibn Roshd Anti-cancer Center, University of Casablanca, Morocco.
²⁸ University Clinic of Radiotherapy and Oncology, Faculty of Medicine, Ss. Cyril and Methodius University, Skopje, North Macedonia.
²⁹ Institut Català d'Oncologia, Cap de Servei Oncologia Radioteràpica Hospital Germans Trias i Pujol. Badalona, Barcelona, Spain.
³⁰ Division of Radiation Oncology, University Hospital "Maggiore della Carità", Novara, Italy.
³¹ Department of Pathology and Molecular Pathology, Jean Perrin Comprehensive Cancer Centre, Clermont-Ferrand, France.
³² Medical Oncology, University of Trieste, Italy.
³³ Department of Radiology, Poliklinika Filipovic, Podgorica, Montenegro.
³⁴ Department of Nuclear Medicine, Tenon Hospital. Sorbonne University, Paris, France.
³⁵ Department of Radiation Oncology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA.
³⁶ Clinic for Oncology and Radiotherapy, Clinical Center of Montenegro and University of Montenegro, Podgorica, Montenegro.
³⁷ Department of Radiation Oncology, American University of Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon.

Abstract

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an infectious disease caused by a new virus that has never been identified in humans before. COVID-19 caused at the time of writing of this article, 2.5 million cases of infections in 193 countries with 165,000 deaths, including two-third in Europe. In this context, Oncology Departments of the affected countries had to adapt quickly their health system care and establish new organizations and priorities. Thus, numerous recommendations and therapeutic options have been reported to optimize therapy delivery to patients with chronic disease and cancer. Obviously, while these cancer care recommendations are immediately applicable in Europe, they may not be applicable in certain emerging and low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). In this review, we aimed to summarize these international guidelines in accordance with cancer types, making a synthesis for daily practice to protect patients, staff and tailor anti-cancer therapy delivery taking into account patients/tumour criteria and tools availability. Thus, we will discuss their applicability in the LMICs with different organizations, limited means and different constraints.

Keywords: AROME; COVID-19; Cancer; Guidelines; Health care; LMICs; Recommendations; TRONE.

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

Betacoronavirus / pathogenicity*
COVID-19
Coronavirus Infections / epidemiology
Coronavirus Infections / prevention & control*
Coronavirus Infections / transmission
Coronavirus Infections / virology
Developing Countries / economics
Global Burden of Disease
Humans
Infection Control / economics
Infection Control / organization & administration*
Infection Control / standards
Medical Oncology / economics
Medical Oncology / organization & administration*
Medical Oncology / standards
Neoplasms / diagnosis
Neoplasms / therapy*
Pandemics / prevention & control*
Pneumonia, Viral / epidemiology
Pneumonia, Viral / prevention & control*
Pneumonia, Viral / transmission
Pneumonia, Viral / virology
Poverty
Practice Guidelines as Topic*
SARS-CoV-2