Hell J Nucl Med
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In December 2019 a new β-CoV, Severe Acute Respiratory Coronavirus- 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has been identified in Wuhan Hubei Province, China. Within a few months it spread rapidly to more than 114 countries and the disease, Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), was declared pandemic on 11th February 2020 by the World Health Organization (WHO). Until 20 June 2020 8:09 am, 8,465,085 cases of COVID-19 were confirmed globally, with 454,258 deaths. ⋯ At the time of writing USA and Brazil, are the countries with the highest disease burden. Governments have imposed a variety of suggestions and restrictions in order to control the spread of the virus, focusing mainly on social distancing, self-isolation, personal hygiene and personal protective equipment (PPE). Greece was one of the countries that implemented early drastic measures thus succeeding in controlling the virus transmission; having a profound economical effect though.
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Since its outbreak in Wuhan, China the SARS-CoV-2 has become a public health emergency of international concern, impacting all areas of daily life, including medical care. Although not in the front line nuclear medicine practice should adjust their standard operating procedures. ⋯ Favorable prognosis and indolent symptoms of most cases of thyroid diseases, allows postponements and rescheduling as well as alternative procedures, provided that they are cautiously considered for each case individually. The objective of the current paper is to provide guidance on how diagnostic and therapeutic management of patients with thyroid diseases can be safely and effectively adjusted during pandemic, in nuclear medicine settings.
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The outbreak and spreading of the COVID-19 pandemic have affected billions of people around the world, severely disrupting many aspects of their lives. Although not at the frontline of the pandemic response, Nuclear Medicine departments have to adopt their clinical routine to the new environment. A series of protective measures, including among others spatial arrangements to promote social distancing, meticulous hand hygiene and use of personal protective equipment, workload reduction, patient screening at admission and examination protocol adjustments, have to be adopted in order to minimize the risk of spreading the infection and ensure the safety of both their patients and staff. As the pandemic seems to slowly recede, the valuable experience gained should help everyone be much better prepared for a possible new outbreak.
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The global COVID-19 health and economic crisis has forced people to adopt challenging rules of social distancing and self-isolation. Health care staff has been advised to change working routines to keep themselves and their patients safe. Radionuclide therapy has had an increasing role in clinical practice. ⋯ Treatment decisions for thyroid cancer and NETs are challenging in this environment. Any decision to postpone therapy must be carefully considered, balancing risks and benefits. A risk of worsened prognosis due to delayed or suboptimal cancer treatment must be weighed against the risk of severe COVID-19 illness.
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The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) global pandemic poses a significant challenge to the national health systems. Not only China, the first country that experienced the health crisis since last December, but the rest of the world, is facing an unprecedented global health crisis, the most serious crisis in a century, with social and economic impact. However, the most important impact of the new pandemic is the human impact. ⋯ There are several issued guidance from national and international organizations, trying to help to cope with suspected or verified COVID-19 patients. Patients with cancer are thought to be more susceptible and have higher morbidity and mortality rates from COVID-19 than the general population. In the current article, our aim is to present measures, guidance and thoughts that should be considered for the cancer patients.