Interest Grows in Low-Dose Radiation for Covid-19

In 2013 Edward Calabrese, a toxicologist from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and a colleague were pining over century-old data on any evidence of whether low-dose radiation therapy could be utilized to combat certain types of illness and disease. Surprisingly, they did find proof that small amounts of radiation were moderately effective in combating pneumonia.

The research showed that doctors reported reduced symptoms within hours of a single dose of X-ray exposure. At that time, only a few people noticed the findings from Calabrese, and they were dismissed, only just being mentioned in a few publications. However, that all changed when Covid-19 came around. People were rushing to find any treatment that would prove even relatively effective against the novel coronavirus, and its devastating pneumonia that is the hallmark of the disease.

“Back in February, I started getting just dozens and dozens and dozens of emails from radiation oncologists – people who treat cancer patients with targeted radiation. And they had come across our paper, and they thought that this might be a vehicle by which they could help suffering and dying COVID patients perhaps survive,” Calabrese said. “Clinical trials are now going on across the country.”

At least a dozen trials worldwide are being tested for low-dose radiation therapy (LDTR), as a treatment to pneumonia related to Covid-19. The theory is that radiation to the lungs will halt the runaway inflammation responsible for the devastating pneumonia that leads to the course of some Covid-19 patients.

Read more on the developments of this article here.

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How Covid-19 is Impacting Radiation Oncology in the U.S.

As we continue to move forward in 2020 with Covid-19 seemingly expanding wider, oncologic care is finding itself in an uncommon and challenging dilemma between the goal to protect patients who are susceptible to Covid-19 while also trying to provide the important treatment they need in appropriate time frames so not to jeopardize treatment outcomes.

Unfortunately, those patients who have cancer are particularly susceptible because of their age, health, and immunosuppression from ongoing cancer therapy. With about 50% of cancer patients receiving radiation therapy, radiation departments around the county have needed to adapt in a situation that is uncharted, requiring ultra-sterile environments, and sometimes uncomfortable processes that would not have been necessary before the Covid-19 era.

Radiotherapy institutions are contemplating major questions that can impact not only the quality of their patient’s treatments, but also their patient’s health and the medical staff who serve them. Comprehensive measures are being taken to mitigate risk from exposure and spread. Patients and medical personnel are oftentimes required to enter separate entrances before they take a sperate screening, with appointments broken out in separate intervals to minimize extensive overlap in the waiting room. For patients who are COVID-19 positive and need radiation treatment, all equipment must be sterilized, and extra precautions are taken than those who are Covid-19 negative. Treatment breaks are another issue for recently diagnosed Covid patients, as the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) guidelines require a 14-day minimum quarantine, increasing treatment package and time sacrificing confidence in local control.

A new mindset for department operations is also developing with the use of telemedicine, which has become paramount in mitigating exposure for patients and health care workers while also lowering the number of employees in facilities. While these precautions are necessary and positive for maintaining the spread of Covid, we need to make sure that patients do not feel socially isolated or neglected by their health care providers in such a great time of uncertainty as this. Patients are already trying to overcome the emotional impact of a cancer diagnosis and, world pandemic or not, we need to make sure these patients get all the care they deserve.

Read More: https://appliedradiationoncology.com/articles/the-impact-of-covid-19-on-radiation-oncology-department-workflow-in-the-united-states