Published Apr 8, 2020

Italian Cancer Patients Are Facing Limited Options as Hospitals and Doctors Respond to COVID-19 Crisis: ‘Cancer Keeps Going In War And Peace’

As cancer hospitals are converted to treat COVID-19 patients, those facing the disease in Italy are seeing many treatments cancelled, according to a stark report in The Guardian.

Constance Costas

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For cancer patients in hard-hit Italy, life hangs in the balance as the coronavirus continues to rage, according to a powerful report in The Guardian. As cancer wards and hospitals have been transformed to treat COVID-19 patients, fewer beds remain for cancer patients and as medical staff members become infected with the coronavirus, there are fewer cancer specialists available to treat them.

Francesca Pesce, 54, a professional translator, has been living with metastatic pancreatic cancer for almost three years. 'Patients are afraid of contracting the virus in hospitals," she says. "Hospitals have been forced to cancel appointments as oncologists assist in the emergency.”

While New York faces its own COVID-19 outbreak, doctors have adapted to the crisis to continue treating cancer patients, says Dr. Brendon Stiles, a thoracic surgeon at Weill Cornell Medical Center.

Paolo Ascierto, an oncologist at Naples' Pascale hospital, which is now treating coronavirus patients, said converting cancer wards to Covid-19 units could be risky. "I understand the state of emergency, but we mustn't forget that cancer patients require dedicated and specialized treatments.” Patients in follow-up can be managed safely using online consultations, he says, “but there are other conditions, such as metastatic patients, that must be prioritized." ,

In one region of Italy, protest erupted when local authorities announced that the only hospital in the area that specialized in women's cancer treatments was to be entirely converted to treat COVID-19 patients.

Dr. Marianna Strongin, a clinical psychologist and founder of Strong In Therapy,shares coping mechanisms for anxiety with the SurvivorNet community.”Anxiety is an internal question that we simply can't find the answers to," she says.

"You have to imagine what it's like for cancer patients," says Alessandra Capone, 47, a human rights activist, who has been living with breast cancer for ten years.

"Many live in a constant state of anxiety," she told The Guardian. "The situation caused by the coronavirus emergency has put them under enormous psychological and physical distress. You see, you can protect yourself from coronavirus by staying at home, but it's not the same with cancer. Cancer doesn't follow the dictates of quarantines … it keeps going, in war and in peace."

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Constance Costas is a writer for SurvivorNet.

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