Antineoplastics

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An event is serious (based on the ICH definition) when the patient outcome is:

• * death

• * life-threatening

• * hospitalisation

• * disability

• * congenital anomaly

• * other medically important event

In a retrospective study of 39 patients with a history of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection and cancer, treated with chemotherapy between March 2020 and July 2020 at a hospital in China, 31 patients (16 women and 15 men) aged 30−73 years were described, who developed neutropenia during chemotherapy with bevacizumab, capecitabine, carboplatin, cisplatin, cyclophosphamide, docetaxel, doxorubicin, etoposide, fluorouracil, folinic acid, gemcitabine, gimeracil/oteracil/tegafur, irinotecan, lobaplatin, nedaplatin, oxaliplatin, paclitaxel, rivoceranib, temozolomide or an unspecified programmed-cell-death-1-receptor-antagonist for cancer [routes, dosages and times to reactions onsets not stated].

All the patients were diagnosed with cancer, such as non-small cell lung cancer (n=6), lung neuroendocrine carcinoma (n=1), breast cancer (n=6), rectal cancer (n=2), colon cancer (n=4), nasopharyngeal cancer (n=5), oesophagus cancer (n=3), gastric cancer (n=1), cervical cancer (n=1), ovarian cancer (n=1) and ampullary carcinoma (n=1). They had a prior history of SARS-CoV-2 infection. Ten patients had chronic diseases of diabetes cardiovascular disease COPD or hypertension. Prior to the initiation of chemotherapy they tested negative for SARS-CoV-2 and they had positive result for anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies. Between 9 March 2020−24 July 2020 they received chemotherapy with one to seven cycles of paclitaxel and nedaplatin; gemcitabine and cisplatin [GP regimen]; docetaxel and cisplatin [DP regimen]; docetaxel and nedaplatin; paclitaxel [abraxane]; paclitaxel and nedaplatin with an unspecified programmed-cell-death-1-receptor-antagonist [PD-1 inhibitor]; paclitaxel and lobaplatin; capecitabine; docetaxel; doxorubicin [Adriamycin] and cyclophosphamide [AC]; folinic acid [leucovorin], fluorouracil [5-fluorouracil] and oxaliplatin [FOLFOX regimen]; docetaxel and carboplatin [DC regimen]; oxaliplatin and capecitabin [XELOX] with an unspecified programmed-cell-death-1-receptor-antagonist; irinotecan, fluorouracil and folinic acid [FOLFIRI regimen] with bevacizumab; oxaliplatin and capecitabin [XELOX] with bevacizumab; cisplatin; gemcitabine and cisplatin [GP regimen] with an unspecified programmed-cell-death-1-receptor-antagonist; cisplatin and an unspecified programmed-cell-death-1-receptor-antagonist; docetaxel and gimeracil/oteracil/tegafur [S1; tegafur, gimeracil, oteracil potassium capsule]; paclitaxel and cisplatin [TP regimen]; capecitabine and nedaplatin with an unspecified programmed-cell-death-1-receptor-antagonist; etoposide and cisplatin [EP]; etoposide and rivoceranib [apatinib] or capecitabine and temozolomide. Three patients concomitantly received radiotherapy. However they developed respective chemotherapy related adverse event of grade I (n=12) grade II (n=15) grade III (n=2) and grade IV (n=2) neutropenia.

Therefore, the patients were treated with unspecified granulocyte colony-stimulating factor, after which the neutropenia resolved.