Pattern of cancer patient referral and organisational model of an interventional pulmonology programme during the COVID-19 pandemic

The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection and its related disease (coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)) have heavily impacted cancer pathways, with population-based modelling studies predicting a substantial increase in the number of avoidable cancer deaths, mainly due to a diagnostic delay [1–3]. While the utility of bronchoscopy for the microbiological confirmation of the SARS-CoV-2 infection has been evaluated, the feasibility and safety of a diagnostic programme aimed at guaranteeing timely invasive procedures to patients with suspected or known thoracic malignancies during the COVID-19 pandemic has not yet been thoroughly assessed [4–6]. In a literature review, we found a single important study that described an organisational model for bronchoscopic procedures during the first wave of the pandemic, when no published guidelines were available [7]. However, it could not analyse the referral pattern over time as it covered a short time frame (2 months), included a relatively small number of cancer patients (126), and did not detail how patients and staff were screened for the SARS-CoV-2 infection [7].
An interventional pulmonary programme can be carried out safely for both cancer patients and HCWs during the #COVID19 pandemic. However, a worrisome reduction of new cancer patient referral occurs during periods of high community spread of the virus. https://bit.ly/2PRWNXo