Among patients with lung and other thoracic cancers also diagnosed with COVID-19, prior use of chemotherapy - alone or in combination with other treatments - was associated with increased risk of death, according to an analysis to be presented as part of the virtual scientific program of the 2020 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting. The data come from the Thoracic cancERs international coVid 19 cOLlaboraTion (TERAVOLT) registry.

ASCO Perspective
“A number of factors - pre-existing lung damage, smoking status, advanced age, and comorbidities - make patients with thoracic cancers especially vulnerable to COVID-19. There are a lot of questions right now, and not a lot of answers. These findings give us some insights into outcomes for patients with cancer who develop COVID-19,” said ASCO President Howard A. Burris III, MD, FACP, FASCO.  

Study at a Glance

“In less than a week we had a study enrolling patients,” said lead author Leora Horn, MD, who is the Ingram Associate Professor of Cancer Research and the Director of the Thoracic Oncology Program at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. “We have seen clinical trials being funded, approved and begin enrolling patients within weeks, when it can often take months or years to get approval for a trial.”  

Only patients treated with chemotherapy (alone or in combination with other therapies) within 3 months of COVID-19 diagnosis had a significantly increased risk (64%) of dying from the virus compared with patients not receiving chemotherapy. Of the 144 patients who died, 79.4% (112) died due to COVID-19 and 10.6% (15) due to cancer.