Video

'Maximum Amount of Caution' Necessary for Immunosuppressed Patients Amid COVID-19 Pandemic

Author(s):

Patrick I. Borgen, MD

In the face of the COVID-19 pandemic patients with cancer who are considered to have weakened immune systems need to have a special emphasis placed on their care.

With the COVID-19 pandemic sweeping the world, patients with cancer face another challenge as many are considered to have weakened immune systems, potentially leaving them vulnerable to deal with a coronavirus infection.

At the 37th Annual Miami Breast Cancer Conference OncLive®, a sister publication to CURE®, sat down with Dr. Patrick Borgen, director of the breast cancer program at the Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn, New York, and discussed the importance of immune suppressed patients taking extra precautions during their care amid the spread of the virus.

TRANSCRIPTION

And so right now we're in a very scary place. A number of institutions chose to have travel restrictions on their faculty. I totally get that. And one of the things that seems to be clear about COVID-19, is that it is really dangerous for immunosuppressed patients. And we do a lot of immune suppression in the cancer treatment world. And so, having a maximum amount of care and caution is the right thing for us to be doing right now.

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