Hell J Nucl Med
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The global COVID-19 health and economic crisis has forced people to adopt challenging rules of social distancing and self-isolation. Health care staff has been advised to change working routines to keep themselves and their patients safe. Radionuclide therapy has had an increasing role in clinical practice. ⋯ Treatment decisions for thyroid cancer and NETs are challenging in this environment. Any decision to postpone therapy must be carefully considered, balancing risks and benefits. A risk of worsened prognosis due to delayed or suboptimal cancer treatment must be weighed against the risk of severe COVID-19 illness.
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In December 2019 a new β-CoV, Severe Acute Respiratory Coronavirus- 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has been identified in Wuhan Hubei Province, China. Within a few months it spread rapidly to more than 114 countries and the disease, Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), was declared pandemic on 11th February 2020 by the World Health Organization (WHO). Until 20 June 2020 8:09 am, 8,465,085 cases of COVID-19 were confirmed globally, with 454,258 deaths. ⋯ At the time of writing USA and Brazil, are the countries with the highest disease burden. Governments have imposed a variety of suggestions and restrictions in order to control the spread of the virus, focusing mainly on social distancing, self-isolation, personal hygiene and personal protective equipment (PPE). Greece was one of the countries that implemented early drastic measures thus succeeding in controlling the virus transmission; having a profound economical effect though.
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On December 29, 2019, a hospital in the City of Wuhan, Hubei Province, in Central China, admitted four individuals with pneumonia. The hospital reported this occurrence to the local center for disease control (CDC), which lead Wuhan CDC staff to initiate a field investigation with a retrospective search for pneumonia patients. On December 31, 2019, the World Health Organization (WHO) was alerted by the Chinese authorities for several cases of pneumonia of unknown origin in the City of Wuhan. ⋯ So far, COVID-19 pandemic has affected the way people live and work globally, and has resulted in extreme strain on the healthcare systems worldwide. Most of the nuclear medicine studies are performed on an out-patient basis. Therefore, without effective implementation of the required preventive measures, there is a significant risk for viral transmission when visiting nuclear medicine departments, particularly in periods of high community spread.
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Since its outbreak in Wuhan, China the SARS-CoV-2 has become a public health emergency of international concern, impacting all areas of daily life, including medical care. Although not in the front line nuclear medicine practice should adjust their standard operating procedures. ⋯ Favorable prognosis and indolent symptoms of most cases of thyroid diseases, allows postponements and rescheduling as well as alternative procedures, provided that they are cautiously considered for each case individually. The objective of the current paper is to provide guidance on how diagnostic and therapeutic management of patients with thyroid diseases can be safely and effectively adjusted during pandemic, in nuclear medicine settings.
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The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) global pandemic poses a significant challenge to the national health systems. Not only China, the first country that experienced the health crisis since last December, but the rest of the world, is facing an unprecedented global health crisis, the most serious crisis in a century, with social and economic impact. However, the most important impact of the new pandemic is the human impact. ⋯ There are several issued guidance from national and international organizations, trying to help to cope with suspected or verified COVID-19 patients. Patients with cancer are thought to be more susceptible and have higher morbidity and mortality rates from COVID-19 than the general population. In the current article, our aim is to present measures, guidance and thoughts that should be considered for the cancer patients.