To transplant or not to transplant during the SARS COV 2 pandemic? That is the question.

To transplant or not to transplant during the SARS COV 2 pandemic? That is the question. Oncologist. 2020 Oct 12;: Authors: Marino D, Finotto S, Basso U, Galiano A, Bolshinsky M, Amato O, Marson P, Tison T, Colpo A, Zagonel V Abstract The novel coronavirus disease 2019 has grown to be a global public-health emergency. The rapid spread of the infection, have raised many questions in the oncohematological scientific community regarding the appropriateness of high-dose chemotherapy (HDCT) with autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT). We here report two cases of patients who received ASCT at our Institute during the epidemic in Italy, respectively affected with Hodgkin lymphoma and germ cell tumour. The two patients underwent a nasopharyngeal Swab for Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome - Coronavirus - 2 (SARS-CoV2) on hospital admittance and during the period of bone marrow aplasia. They were attended to exclusively by dedicated healthcare staff and followed specifically implemented protocols for bedside nursing and care. They completed the procedure without unexpected side effect. Our experience demonstrates how ASCT can be performed safely if procedures are reorganized ad-hoc, in order to reduce the risk of contracting SARS COV2 infection. PMID: 33044758 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
Source: The Oncologist - Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: Tags: Oncologist Source Type: research