Retrospective Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2022. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Clin Oncol. May 24, 2022; 13(5): 339-351
Published online May 24, 2022. doi: 10.5306/wjco.v13.i5.339
Co-relation of SARS-CoV-2 related 30-d mortality with HRCT score and RT-PCR Ct value-based viral load in patients with solid malignancy
Satya Narayan, Vineet Talwar, Varun Goel, Krushna Chaudhary, Anurag Sharma, Pallavi Redhu, Satyajeet Soni, Arpit Jain
Satya Narayan, Vineet Talwar, Varun Goel, Krushna Chaudhary, Pallavi Redhu, Satyajeet Soni, Arpit Jain, Department of Medical Oncology, Rajiv Gandhi Cancer Institute and Research Centre, New Delhi 110085, India
Anurag Sharma, Department of Research, Rajiv Gandhi Cancer Institute and Research Centre, New Delhi 110085, India
Author contributions: Narayan S and Talwar V were involved in design of study and the acquisition of data; Goel V, Chaudhary K, Redhu P, Soni S, Jain A were involved in the drafting and revision of the manuscript; Narayan S and Sharma A were involved in the statistical calculation; All authors discussed and contributed to the final manuscript.
Institutional review board statement: The study has been approved by our Institutional Review Board (RGCIRC/Res/SCM/46 2021/95) and was conducted according to the Declaration of Helsinki.
Conflict-of-interest statement: Authors have no conflict of interest.
Data sharing statement: No additional data are available.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Varun Goel, DNB, Doctor, Consultant Physician-Scientist, Department of Medical Oncology, Rajiv Gandhi Cancer Institute and Research Centre, Sector 5 Rohini, Sir Chhotu Ram Marg, New Delhi 110085, India. drvarungoyaloncologist@gmail.com
Received: October 3, 2021
Peer-review started: October 3, 2021
First decision: November 19, 2021
Revised: November 30, 2021
Accepted: April 25, 2022
Article in press: April 25, 2022
Published online: May 24, 2022
ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS
Research background

The lack of correlation data between coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and Solid malignancy limits the understanding of the true mortality impact of the COVID-19 in the Indian settings.

Research motivation

Higher incidence of serious clinical events and intensive care unit (ICU) admissions in cancer patients. Analysis suggests patients have increased morbidity and mortality from recent cytotoxic chemotherapy. Patients with active untreated cancer, metastatic disease, progressive disease with multiple co-morbidity and getting palliative treatment are at a higher risk of mortality.

Research objectives

The primary objectives of the study include COVID-19 related mortality outcomes within 30 d of diagnosis with HRCT score and RT-PCR Ct value-based viral load in various solid malignancies.

Research methods

This is a single-center, retrospective study conducted at a tertiary cancer care hospital including confirmed COVID-19 in a diagnosed case of solid malignancy. The primary endpoint was to measure mortality within 30 d of diagnosis of COVID-19 with HRCT score and RT-PCR Ct value-based viral load.

Research results

The risk of death was statistically significant with the presence of symptomatic presentation, number of comorbidities ≥ 2 vs none, Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status of 0/1 v/s ≥ 2. The odds ratio of mortality were significantly higher in patients presented with moderate and severe HRCT scores as compared to patients with mild HRCT scores. No statistically significant association of 30-d mortality was found concerning age, sex, type of malignancy, type of anticancer therapy, obesity status, recent surgery and active cancer (progressing vs remission). Also, no significant effect on mortality was noted for the patients with RT PCR based on different viral load levels.

Research conclusions

Mortality rates are higher in patients with high baseline HRCT values at presentation and who need longer ICU stays. Mortality rates are not higher in older cancer patients as compared to younger counterparts with cancer. Mortality rates are not statistically significant in co-relation with high baseline RT-PCR based viral load values at presentation.

Research perspectives

If there are further COVID-19 outbreaks, the findings of these studies will be helpful for clinical practice to categorize the patients on the basis of various demographic and clinical parameters for prognostication of patients.