Clinical recommendations for the management of cancer patients in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic

Recomendaciones clínicas para el manejo de pacientes oncológicos en el marco de la pandemia COVID-19

Abstract

The disease by the new coronavirus strain (COVID-19) has been classified as apandemic by the WHO. In Peru, a state of national emergency and compulsory socialisolation had been declared since 15 March. Global health systems have been greatlyimpacted by COVID-19, which forced health systems, societies and medicalassociations to design prioritized intervention strategies to provide continuity of patientcare in infected areas and COVID-19-free areas. A cancer patient is classified asvulnerable and represents a risk factor for complications due to COVID-19, such asadmission to the intensive care unit, intubation, and early death due to infection due toCOVID-19. This is how the Asociación de Médicos Ex Residentes de OncologíaMédica (AMEROM), has endeavored to give recommendations adaptable to our healthsystem, to continue with the prioritized care of cancer patients. Through the modifiedmethodology of expert consensus, based on the literature, recommendations have beengenerated at different stages of the pandemic, reaching a final consensus of clinicalrecommendations for the management of cancer patients in the framework of theCOVID-19 pandemic in Peru, to provide useful information to health professionals.This article indicates the processes by which agreements were reached to makerecommendations and generate the order of priority adopted by AMEROM.