PURPOSEThis study investigated the features of oncology patients with confirmed Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) at the Ministry of National Guard Health Affairs-Riyadh during the outbreak of June 2015 to determine the clinical course and outcome of affected patients.METHODSThe patients’ demographic information, cancer history, treatment pattern, information about MERS-coronavirus (CoV) infection, history of travel, clinical symptoms, test results, and outcome were Camera Retention Harness collected and analyzed as part of a quality improvement project to improve the care and safety of our patients.Only patients with confirmed infection were included.RESULTSA total of 19 patients were identified, with a median age of 66 years (range, 16-88 years), and 12 patients (63%) were males.
The most common underlying disease was hematologic malignancies (47.4%), followed by colorectal cancer (21%) and lung cancer (15.8%).Hypertension and diabetes mellitus were the most common comorbidities (57.
9% and 52.6%, respectively).Infection was diagnosed by nasopharyngeal swab in all patients.All patients contracted the infection during their hospitalization for other reasons.
Sixteen patients (80%) were admitted to the intensive care unit; 13 patients Fitness (81%) had acute respiratory distress syndrome, 11 were intubated (68.75%), 9 had acute renal injury (56.25%), and 3 required dialysis (18.75%).
Only 3 patients (15.8%) with early-stage cancers survived.Patients with hematologic malignancies and advanced solid tumors had a 100% case fatality rate.The majority of the causes of death were due to multi-organ failure and septic shock.
CONCLUSIONMERS-CoV infection resulted in a high case fatality rate in patients with malignancy.Therefore, it is critical to implement effective primary preventive measures to avoid exposure of patients with cancer to the virus.