• Jung Julie Kang, Richard J Wong, Eric J Sherman, Alisa Rybkin, Sean M McBride, Nadeem Riaz, C Jillian Tsai, Yao Yu, Linda Chen, Kaveh Zakeri, Daphna Y Gelblum, Erin F Gillespie, Marc A Cohen, Jennifer R Cracchiolo, Ian Ganly, Snehal Patel, Bhuvanesh Singh, Jay O Boyle, Benjamin R Roman, Luc G Morris, Ashok R Shaha, Lara A Dunn, Alan L Ho, James V Fetten, Jatin P Shah, David G Pfister, and Nancy Y Lee.
• Department of Radiation Oncology, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, New York.
• Cancer. 2020 Sep 15; 126 (18): 4092-4104.

AbstractBecause of the national emergency triggered by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, government-mandated public health directives have drastically changed not only social norms but also the practice of oncologic medicine. Timely head and neck cancer (HNC) treatment must be prioritized, even during emergencies. Because severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 predominantly resides in the sinonasal/oral/oropharyngeal tracts, nonessential mucosal procedures are restricted, and HNCs are being triaged toward nonsurgical treatments when cures are comparable. Consequently, radiation utilization will likely increase during this pandemic. Even in radiation oncology, standard in-person and endoscopic evaluations are being restrained to limit exposure risks and preserve personal protective equipment for other frontline workers. The authors have implemented telemedicine and multidisciplinary conferences to continue to offer standard-of-care HNC treatments during this uniquely challenging time. Because of the lack of feasibility data on telemedicine for HNC, they report their early experience at a high-volume cancer center at the domestic epicenter of the COVID-19 crisis.© 2020 American Cancer Society.

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