Metro Detroit — In the days of COVID-19, the researchers, a global virus known to adversely affect immunocompromised people and people with other comorbidities, said the virus coexists with cancer. And we are investigating how it will affect the person being treated.
Researchers at Beaumont Health at the Health Network Farmington Hills, Royal Oak, Troy, and Dearborn Hospitals are part of a new National Cancer Institute study that aims to enroll more than 2,000 patients nationwide. It is a department.
“This is really a very important study, asking some very basic questions about how COVID-19 infections affect cancer treatment, cancer outcomes, and cancer biology. “, said Dr. Dana Zakalik, director of the Center for Cancer Genetics in Beaumont. “What we are trying to find when a patient is undergoing significant chemotherapy or other types of treatment in this pandemic situation is…when that patient (again) suffers from COVID-19 What happens to
“Will (their) cancers become more invasive? Will cancer treatments be less effective? Do people have more toxicity from their cancer treatments? They have worse results Are they more symptomatic?” she continued. “If you have overlapping disease processes that can affect how you treat cancer and deal with its consequences, you can really see how it becomes a complete storm.”
The answers to these questions and data found in the study will ultimately help oncologists across the country to better tailor their treatments to the needs of their patients and perhaps enhance the “long-term survival of cancer” dimension. Useful
In 2015, 68-year-old Sterling Heights-breast cancer survivor Mary Car said that living in a world with COVID-19 as a cancer survivor was sometimes scared, but she I definitely remembered that I suffered from my cancer diagnosis.
“If you can do that, this is easy,” she said about COVID-19. “I can stay home. You can wear a mask. You can take further precautions. You are accustomed to doing some of them… you are being treated Ma… I think it was a little easier for me in that respect.”
Despite the thoughts of her survivors, the idea of what would happen if she were infected with COVID-19 remains on the roadside.
“As a cancer survivor, if I get COVID-19, what do I do to the extent that it affects the immune system? Will your cancer recur?” Kerr said. “I couldn’t even think of the worst time someone could be diagnosed with cancer. Support groups are still in effect, but unlike meeting them in person.”
Kerr’s concerns about COVID-19 were amplified a little after getting cancer, she said, but she’d hug her granddaughter, as long as she was wearing all the masks, and there was an acceptable risk for her. I learned how to measure.
“I think there are different thresholds for what is the risk (limit) that everyone can tolerate,” she said.
Zakaryk and her colleagues are still a lot unknowing about the effects of COVID-19 on other illnesses such as cancer, but experts know that infected people seem to have long-term effects. I will.
“More and more people are reporting that their lives are not the same. They have long-standing respiratory mutations (or are tired.) About myocardial inflammation affecting heart function I know. I know it has a cognitive impact.” “What we want to know is that for patients who are also being treated for cancer, when they get COVID-19, those cancer patients suffer from some kind of cumulative Is there a synergistic effect?”
This study examines and collects data based on the type of cancer, the stage of the patient’s cancer, and the type of treatment they are receiving.
To qualify for participation, patients must be actively treated for cancer and have been tested positive for COVID-19 within 14 days of being tested. The patient does not need to make additional visits beyond the usual care visits with the oncologist.
Finding enough patients to participate comes as a double-edged sword, Zakalik said. If more patients turn out to be eligible, that means COVID-19 is more common in the area, she adds, predicting she will see an increase in cases this fall. Ultimately, she believes this is a research worth pursuing.
“I think we need to know some answers to this, which will enable us to continue to be successful in treating cancer over the last decade or two,” she said.
For more information on this study, call the Cancer Research Laboratory at the Beaumont Institute at (248) 551-7695.
