key: cord-0920727-qiyqbryd authors: Serraino, Diego title: COVID-19 and cancer: Looking for evidence date: 2020-05-06 journal: Eur J Surg Oncol DOI: 10.1016/j.ejso.2020.05.002 sha: 1c0fad7bae4faf3fd5dfd70dd5d781fbfe90e384 doc_id: 920727 cord_uid: qiyqbryd nan How will COVID-19 outbreak impact on millions of individuals already living with cancer and on those who will be newly diagnosed with cancer in every country of the world? A question widely brought to public attention by the international cancer community and the media, with more than 500 articles (from guidelines on how to manage cancer cases to clinical case reports) published between March and April 2020 in the scientific literature. The disruption caused by coronavirus on health systems has led hospitals to suspend non urgent cancer diagnostic procedures and treatments, including elective surgery, while cancer patients have been deterred from seeking care at scheduled intervals. How long will the COVID-19 pandemic last and what effect will it have on primary and secondary prevention (i.e., screening), diagnosis, treatment and care of cancer patients? Presently, in the absence of a vaccine and of anti COVID-19 drugs, only anectodical evidence is available to answer crucial issues like whether any change of practice will negatively affect cancer prognosis and outcomes (e.g., overall survival), or whether SARS-CoV-2 infected cancer patients will be discriminated as regards drugs delivery and admission in intensive care units, or whether postponed screening tests (e.g., mammogram for breast cancer, fecal occult blood test for colon cancer, HPV test for cervical cancer) will increase the number of new cancer In the meantime, we should recognize that recommendations and guidelines for the management of cancer patients in the context of SARS-CoV-2 infection are widely produced outside the traditional "Evidence Based" benchmark. It is hoped that pertinent data collection will help us to accumulate sufficient evidence to continue to appropriately fight cancer from prevention to care also in the post-COVID 19 era. Cancer Epidemology Unit National Cancer Institute Centro di Riferimento Oncologico, IRCCS, Aviano -Italy Cancer care under the outbreak of COVID-19: a perspective from Italian tertiary referral center for surgical oncology The need of COVID-19 free hospitals to maintain cancer care Management of Gynaecological Oncology diseases during COVID-19 Global Pandemic Skin cancer Plastic Surgery during the COVID-19 pandemic Surgical management of bone and soft tissue sarcomas and skeletal metastases during the COVID-19 pandemic How technology can help in oncologic patient management during COVID-19 outbreak COVID-19: The European Institute of Oncology as a "hub" centre for breast cancer surgery during the pandemic in Milan (Lombardy region, northern Italy) -a screenshot of the first month Rationalizing breast cancer surgery during the COVID-19 pandemic COVID-19 Infection in Patients Following Hepato-Pancreatico-Biliary Intervention: An Early Experience Cancer Surgery in a Time of COVID-19: many questions, few certainties Cancer patients in SARS-CoV-2 infection: a nationwide analysis in China No conflicts of interest to declare.