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Background: The outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 infection and the associated COVID-19 pneumonia have dramatically disrupted the delivery of cancer care worldwide. Indeed, this crisis has raised the urge of thoughtfully balancing the risk of delaying potentially curative treatments against the harm of developing a life-threatening respiratory infection. In this study, we report the experience of an Italian Reference Cancer Center, where strict triage procedures had to be promptly adopted. Methods: We retrospectively analyzed a consecutive cohort of 787 cancer patients (pts) who accessed the Day Hospital (DH) of the Oncology Department of Udine from April 6th to June 19th 2020. Screening NP swabs and RT-PCR analysis were performed at every access in pts who, after passing the triage, were admitted to receive intravenous therapies. Clinicopathological data were collected from electronic health records and include sex, age, tumor type, disease stage, type of treatment, number of swabs received and RT-PCR results. Results: Overall, 2602 NP swabs were performed in a population of 787 cancer pts receiving intravenous therapies, including 55.7% female and 44.3% male pts, respectively, with 54.9% aged ≥65. Of note, 28.2% of pts had gastrointestinal tumors, 23% breast cancer, 19.8% lung cancer and 14.2% tumors of the genitourinary tract. Approximately 32% of pts had early-stage disease whereas 68% of them was receiving therapies for advanced disease. Treatments most frequently included chemotherapy (60%), immunotherapy (14.7%) and target therapies (9.8%) whereas 11.1% of swabs were performed in pts entering the premises for supportive therapy. The median number of SARS-CoV-2 tests per patient was 3 and 26% of pts received ≥5 swabs. In the whole population, only 10 SARS-CoV-2 tests (1.3%) resulted positive and were promptly isolated. Conclusions: In the pandemic context, the adoption and gradual refinement of rigorous procedures aimed at minimizing COVID-19 diffusion among pts and healthcare professionals are mandatory to ensure continuity of care. In our experience systematic triage, sequential screening with NP swabs and the prompt identification of asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 carriers limited COVID-19 spread among cancer pts accessing the Oncology DH. Legal entity responsible for the study: ASUFC. Funding: Has not received any funding. Disclosure: All authors have declared no conflicts of interest.

Background: The recent COVID-19 outbreak in Italy required timely adoption of efficient triage procedures (TPs) with the aim to minimize the risk of infection spreading in the hospitals We developed a written questionnaire (items explored: fever, respiratory symptoms, previous contacts or personal positivity for COVID-19) together with body temperature (BT) measurement, to intercept patients (pts) with suspect of COVID-19 infection Methods: We conducted a monocentric observational study of a consecutive series of outpatients with diagnosis of solid tumor, accessing the Day Unit of Oncology Department at Udine Academic Cancer Center (Northern Italy) from 30 March 2020 to 30 April 2020 In this abstract we present the preliminary results of the TPs performed until 10 April 2020 Results: 1054 TPs were performed out of 586 pts, with a median of 2 TPs per pt Median age was 64 9 years, males were 35 4% Overall, 82 5% of TPs were made because of access for therapy, 10 7% for programmed procedures, radiological exams or non-oncological consultations, 1 2% for unplanned presentation (e g urgencies) The stage of neoplasm was early in 30 7% and advanced in 69 3% of pts TPs were made in pts receiving chemotherapy (58 2%), immunotherapy (10 8%), targeted therapy (18 9%), other therapies (5 2%) and in pts without active oncological therapy (6 9%) The questionnaires resulted positive in 5 5% of cases;2 9% were positive for fever, 2 9% for respiratory symptoms, 0 1% for previous contact with a case of COVID-19 Concomitant presence of 2 or more items was observed in 0 5% of questionnaires Of note, 6 TPs required medical evaluation despite a negative questionnaire and were considered to be clinically suspect BT≥37°C was observed in 7 TPs Overall, the oncologic program was postponed in 0 9% of the TPs, while in 0 5% a test for SARS-CoV-2 was performed for clinical suspect: no one resulted positive At multivariate analysis, factors associated with positive triage were diagnosis of thoracic cancer (OR 2 06;95%CI 1 02-4 12;p=0 04) and prior test for SARS-CoV-2 (OR 2 81;95%CI 1 46-5 41;p=0 001) Conclusions: A well-structured triage for COVID-19 could reduce the risk for further spreading of infection in Oncology facilities with limited impact on scheduled activities Legal entity responsible for the study: The authors Funding: Has not received any funding Disclosure: F Puglisi: Honoraria (self): MSD;Honoraria (self), Advisory/Consultancy, Research grant/Funding (self), Travel/Accommodation/Expenses: Roche;Honoraria (self), Advisory/Consultancy: Eli Lilly;Honoraria (self): Takeda;Pfizer;Advisory/Consultancy: Amgen;Novartis;Pierre Fabre;Research grant/Funding (self): Astrazeneca;Eisai;Travel/Accommodation/Expenses: Celgene;Servier C Andreetta: Advisory/Consultancy: AstraZeneca;GlaxoSmithKline;MSD A M Minisini: Advisory/Consultancy: Novartis;MSD;Pierre Fabre G Fasola: Speaker Bureau/Expert testimony, Travel/Accommodation/Expenses: Bristol-Myers Squibb srl;Eli Lilly SpA ;Servier Italia SpA ;Speaker Bureau/Expert testimony: Astrazeneca;Travel/Accommodation/Expenses: Merck Sharp and Dohme S p A ;Boehringer-Ingelheim S p A All other authors have declared no conflicts of interest