Neoplasms

Respiratory Tract (Lung and Bronchial) Diseases

All Conditions

Lung Neoplasms

Respiratory Tract Neoplasms

Thoracic Neoplasms

Lung Diseases

Respiratory Tract Diseases

Standard care and patient coach. 5 face-to-face sessions of approximately 1-2 hours duration and 3 phone calls from inclusion to one month after end of first line treatment. Deviations from this schedule might depend on the treatment modules and on the wishes and needs of the patient. Several patients will continue directly into palliative care and the coach will thus support this transition.

Patient coach

Standard care

Trille Kjaer, Postdoc

Susanne O Dalton, Senior researcher

Anders Mellemgaard, MD, PhD

The randomized trial evaluates whether assigning a patient coach to vulnerable lung cancer patients will empower these patients to participate in the treatment decision process, help patients navigate the health care system while undergoing treatment and adhere to cancer treatment and to recommendations for supportive care. Half of the participants will receive standard care and be offered a patient coach while the other half will receive standard care.

Having short education or living without a partner negatively influences lung cancer survival and low social position has been associated with higher risk of advanced stage of the lung cancer at diagnosis. Disparities exists in both curative and palliative intended treatment, even adjusted for performance status and comorbidity. Differences in stage, treatment and comorbidity at diagnosis explain most of the social inequality in lung cancer survival. Age disparities in favor of younger lung cancer patients has also been found in several studies showing that older patients do not receive the most optimal treatment although age by itself do not worsen efficacy or tolerance to combined induction and definitive treatment, radiation therapy or concurrent chemoradiation. Taken together these findings indicate that in order to reduce social inequality in lung cancer survival not only early detection should be improved but also efforts to ensure optimal treatment among lung cancer patients of low social position are needed. Survival observed in the most advantaged group of lung cancer patients should set the target for what is achievable for all lung cancer patients in Denmark.

In the present intervention the investigators bring navigation together with activation as a longitudinal intervention by assigning a patient coach to vulnerable lung cancer patients while undergoing treatment. The patient coach function will address patient barrier factors, provider factors and organizational factors through providing social support, practical assistance and linking with health personnel, which are the three main principles guiding the coach intervention. The intervention will target specific phases in the treatment trajectory, which include challenges to compliance: into treatment, maintaining treatment and finalizing treatment. The investigators will use patient coaches who are volunteers with health education to provide a support function that is affiliated to the patient. The investigators believe that assistance with navigating the system, communication with health staff and social support across care transitions will help patients to obtain best possible care Primary aim: optimal treatment depending on stage, histology and performance status Secondary aims: quality of life and symptoms, participation in self-management plans as smoking cessation, physical activity, dietary changes, and short-term survival.

The investigators expect that compared to the usual care group the intervention group will initiate and adhere more to optimal treatment according to stage and performance status. Further, compared to the usual care group the intervention group will report better quality of life, less symptoms related to disease and treatment, higher level of adherence to recommendations for smoking, diet and exercise and better survival.

The PACO Project: A Clinical Study of a PAtient COach Program in Vulnerable Lung Cancer Patients

The PACO Project: A Randomized Clinical Study of a PAtient COach Program in Vulnerable Lung Cancer Patients

Optimal first line treatment will be defined according to TNM status and performance status and categorized receipt of first-line treatment as binary variable (yes/no).

University of Copenhagen

Danish Cancer Society

Senior Researcher

Infections

COVID-19

All Drugs and Chemicals

Immunomodulating Agents

Cécile GIRAULT

Since December 2019, China and then the rest of the world have been affected by the rapid development of a new coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome corona virus 2). The disease caused by this coronavirus (COVID-19), which is transmitted by air via droplets, is potentially responsible for a severe respiratory syndrome but also for a multivisceral deficiency that can lead to death.

Cancer patients are generally more susceptible to infections than people without cancer due to immunosuppression caused by their tumor disease and/or conventional anti-cancer treatments used such as cytotoxic chemotherapy, several targeted therapies, radiotherapy or recent surgery. These patients may therefore be at particular risk for COVID-19.

This is suggested by the very first analysis on the subject, which reports data from the Chinese prospective database of 2007 patients with proven COVID-19 infection in 575 hospitals in 31 Chinese provinces. The authors of this publication conclude with 3 measures to be proposed to patients undergoing cancer follow-up: 1/ consider postponing adjuvant chemotherapy or surgery in the case of localized and stable cancer, 2/ reinforce protective measures for these patients, and 3/ monitor very closely and treat these patients more intensively when they have a COVID-19.

However, the increased risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection and severe forms of COVID-19 in cancer patients suggested by this first study remains to be demonstrated given its limitations, already highlighted by other authors. Indeed, the number of patients is small and the population of cancer patients is very heterogeneous, with in particular 12 patients out of 16 who had recovered from initial cancer treatments (therefore without immunosuppression), half of whom had a disease course of more than 4 years.

Nevertheless, a second Chinese study has just recently been published, reporting COVID-19 data among 1524 cancer patients admitted between December 30, 2019 and February 17, 2020 in the Department of Radiotherapy and Medical Oncology of the University Hospital of Wuhan, the source city of the COVID-19 epidemic. Although the rate of CoV-2 SARS infection was lower than that reported in the first study, it was still 0.79% (n=12), which is much higher than the rate of COVID-19 diagnosed in Wuhan City during the same period (0.37%, 41 152/11 081 000). Again, lung cancer was the main tumour location observed in 7 patients (58%), of which 5 (42%) were undergoing chemotherapy +/- immunotherapy. Three deaths (25%) were reported. Patients over 60 years of age with lung cancer had a higher incidence of COVID-19 (4.3% vs. 1.8%). Thus, it appears that the risk of COVID-19 is actually increased in cancer patients, although again, less than half of the patients with lung cancer had a higher incidence of COVID-19.

Moreover, two more recent studies performed in patients treated in Hubei Province of China and in New-York city found that patients with cancer had significantly increased risk of death compared to non-cancer COVID-19 patients, especially patients with metastatic cancer and those who had recent surgery.

Therefore, many questions remain to date on the level of risk and the severity of COVID-19 in patients with active cancer, in particular those under anti-cancer treatment and in patients recently operated for localized cancer.

Since December 2019, China and then the rest of the world have been affected by the rapid development of a new coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome corona virus 2). The disease caused by this coronavirus (COVID-19), which is transmitted by air via droplets, is potentially responsible for a severe respiratory syndrome but also for a multivisceral deficiency that can lead to death.

In less than 3 months, the COVID-19 epidemic has already affected more than 440,000 persons and has been responsible for more than 20,000 deaths worldwide.

Cancer patients are generally more susceptible to infections than people without cancer due to immunosuppression caused by their tumor disease and/or conventional anti-cancer treatments used such as cytotoxic chemotherapy, several targeted therapies, radiotherapy or recent surgery. These patients may therefore be at particular risk for COVID-19.

This is suggested by the very first analysis on the subject, which reports data from the Chinese prospective database of 2007 patients with proven COVID-19 infection in 575 hospitals in 31 Chinese provinces. After exclusion of 417 cases without sufficient available clinical data, 1590 cases of patients infected with COVID-19 were analysed, of which 18 (1%) had a personal history of cancer. This prevalence was higher than that of COVID-19 in the general Chinese population since the beginning of the epidemic (0.29%). Lung cancer (n=5, 28%) and colorectal cancer (n=5, 28%) were the 2 most common cancers. Four (25%) of the 16 patients for whom treatment was known had received chemotherapy or had surgery in the month prior to COVID-19 infection, while the majority (n=12, 75%) were patients in remission or cured of their cancer after primary surgery. Compared to patients without cancer, patients with cancer were older (63 years vs. 48 years) and had a more frequent history of smoking (22% vs. 7%). Most importantly, patients with cancer had more severe forms of COVID-19 than patients without cancer (7/18 or 39% vs. 124/1572 or 8%, p=0.0003). Patients who had chemotherapy or surgery in the month preceding the diagnosis of COVID-19 had a significantly increased risk of the severe form (3/4 or 75% vs. 6/14 or 43%), which was confirmed in multivariate analysis after adjustment on other risk factors such as age, smoking and other comorbidities, with a relative risk of 5.34 (95% CI: 1.80-16.18;p=0.0026). Finally, patients with cancer deteriorated more rapidly than patients without cancer (13 days vs. 43 days, p\<0.0001). The authors of this publication conclude with 3 measures to be proposed to patients undergoing cancer follow-up: 1/ consider postponing adjuvant chemotherapy or surgery in the case of localized and stable cancer, 2/ reinforce protective measures for these patients, and 3/ monitor very closely and treat these patients more intensively when they have a COVID-19.

However, the increased risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection and severe forms of COVID-19 in cancer patients suggested by this first study remains to be demonstrated given its limitations, already highlighted by other authors. Indeed, the number of patients is small and the population of cancer patients is very heterogeneous, with in particular 12 patients out of 16 who had recovered from initial cancer treatments (therefore without immunosuppression), half of whom had a disease course of more than 4 years.

Nevertheless, a second Chinese study has just recently been published, reporting COVID-19 data among 1524 cancer patients admitted between December 30, 2019 and February 17, 2020 in the Department of Radiotherapy and Medical Oncology of the University Hospital of Wuhan, the source city of the COVID-19 epidemic. Although the rate of CoV-2 SARS infection was lower than that reported in the first study, it was still 0.79% (n=12), which is much higher than the rate of COVID-19 diagnosed in Wuhan City during the same period (0.37%, 41 152/11 081 000). Again, lung cancer was the main tumor location observed in 7 patients (58%), of which 5 (42%) were undergoing chemotherapy +/- immunotherapy. Three deaths (25%) were reported. Patients over 60 years of age with lung cancer had a higher incidence of COVID-19 (4.3% vs. 1.8%). Thus, it appears that the risk of COVID-19 is actually increased in cancer patients, although again, less than half of the patients with lung cancer had a higher incidence of COVID-19.

Moreover, two more recent studies performed in patients treated in Hubei Province of China and in New-York city found that patients with cancer had significantly increased risk of death compared to non-cancer COVID-19 patients, especially patients with metastatic cancer and those who had recent surgery.

Therefore, many questions remain to date on the level of risk and the severity of COVID-19 in patients with active cancer, in particular those under anti-cancer treatment and in patients recently operated for localized cancer.

The GCO-002 CACOVID-19 Cohort: a French Nationwide Multicenter Study of COVID-19 Infected Cancer Patients

Cohorte Non Interventionnelle Ambispective Nationale Multicentrique de Patients Suivis Pour Cancer et infectés Par le SARS-CoV-2

Describe the number of cases of SARS-COV-2 infection, including those with severe form, and the mortality rate directly related to the infection in patients being followed for any of the following cancers: digestive, thoracic, head and neck, gynecologic, cerebral, urologic, or cutaneous

Describe the number of cases of SARS-COV-2 infection according to:

* Tumor location
* metastatic or localized status
* status treated or under surveillance
* the type of cancer treatment n the 3 months prior to the occurrence of COVID-19 or more

Describe the percentage of severe and fatal forms respectively according to :

* Tumor location
* metastatic or localized status
* status treated or under surveillance
* type of cancer treatment received in the 3 months prior to the occurrence of COVID-19 or more

Social characteristics of individuals (dwelling place with a INSE code, ) impact on the treatment management of cancer. Information of dwelling place (INSE code), socio-professional leve (INSEE classification) will be collected

Analyze the link between socio-territorial determinants and the characteristics/severity of SARS-COV-2 infection, as well as the impact of the infection on cancer management.

Study title	NCT ID	Conditions	Interventions	Eligibility	Organization
The PACO Project: A Clinical Study of a PAtient COach Program in Vulnerable Lung Cancer Patients	NCT02686775	Lung Cancer Social Inequali...	Patient coach Standard care	-	Danish Cancer Society
The GCO-002 CACOVID-19 Cohort: a French Nationwide Multicenter Study of COVID-19 Infected Cancer Patients	NCT04397575	Cancer COVID Solid Tumor Social Inequali... French National... Chemotherapy Immunotherapy Surgery Radiotherapy		18 Years -	Federation Francophone de Cancerologie Digestive
The GCO-002 CACOVID-19 Cohort: a French Nationwide Multicenter Study of COVID-19 Infected Cancer Patients	NCT04397575	Cancer COVID Solid Tumor Social Inequali... French National... Chemotherapy Immunotherapy Surgery Radiotherapy		18 Years -	Federation Francophone de Cancerologie Digestive

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