Coronavirus: advice and information for patients

The corona virus (SARS-CoV-2) leads to significant restrictions in many areas of our lives and can lead to particular uncertainty for those affected by cancer. The CCC Hannover team would like to provide you with some information and advice on how to deal with this pandemic.

In many cases, cancer patients have a weakened immune system as a direct result of the disease and/or treatment. The German Society for Hematology and Medical Oncology (DGHO ) points out that cancer patients can have a weakened immune system for various reasons:

• Suffering from leukemia or lymphoma,
• few white blood cells in the blood (leukocytopenia),
• few antibodies in the blood (low immunoglobulin levels),
• long-term use of medication that suppresses the immune system (e.g. steroids),
• transplantation of exogenous stem cells or other cellular therapies (e.g. CAR T-cell therapy).

Major surgery and radiotherapy can also contribute to this. General hygiene measures are particularly important for this group of people.

The physicians treating you will check with you whether it makes sense to adapt treatment plans under the special conditions of the pandemic. As there are different treatment options in numerous treatment situations, necessary diagnostics can be provided using different methods and treatment risks may have to be assessed differently, the specialists treating you will discuss such modifications with you if necessary. In general, the principle will apply not to postpone planned cancer treatments, but to modify them in terms of timing, treatment intensity or duration if necessary, taking into account the additional risk posed by the virus. However, this can only ever be an individual decision.

Vaccination

A corona vaccination is generally recommended for cancer patients. Please contact your oncologist for consultation. You can find up-to-date information on vaccination and Covid-19 on the website of the Robert Koch Institute.

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