<p>For the first time, a cancer patient in the city succumbed to coronavirus on Saturday.</p>.<p>The patient — P557 — was a 63-year-old man with diabetes, hypertension, hypothyroidism, renal failure and multiple myeloma. He was admitted with complaints of breathlessness on April 30 and died on May 2 at Victoria Hospital.</p>.<p>Dr Vishal Rao, head and neck cancer surgeon, HCG Hospital, said: “Multiple myeloma is a cancer of the plasma cells, a type of white blood cell that normally produces antibodies. The chance of a five-year survival is 50%.”</p>.<p>Dr C Ramachandra, director, Kidwai Memorial Institute of Oncology, said myeloma impacts the bone marrow. “The patients will have more immunosuppression compared to normal people,” he said. “Such patients are at a high risk of getting Covid-19. Several people suffering from myeloma are receiving chemotherapy at Kidwai.” He said Kidwai had tested close to 300 cancer patients for Covid-19, including inpatients and those at the early stages of investigation, but none have tested positive so far.</p>.<p>While Kidwai had tested 45 patients on the first day and 25 in patients on the second, the hospital has ramped up testing to 300 in the past four days. Even those attending patients are screened.</p>.<p>“Any patient who approaches us for chemotherapy, surgery or radiation is tested for Covid-19,” Dr Ramachandra said. “We test both old and new patients.”</p>.<p class="CrossHead"><strong>Screening area </strong></p>.<p>A screening area has been set up at Kidwai’s campus under a shamyana (tent). “We have our personnel donning PPEs there. They are either checked for Covid-19 and sent in or sent to a designated isolation hospital if they show symptoms,” Ramachandra said.</p>.<p>Curing myeloma depends on the stage of the cancer, he added. If the cancer is found at a single site, the chances of cure are higher than when the cancer is found in multiple sites.</p>.<p>“Plasma cell is a small cell tumour. So, it responds well to chemotherapy. It is curable if the patients come to us early. If the tumour spreads extensively in the body, they may not be able to tolerate chemotherapy. Such patients succumb (to the disease),” he said.</p>
<p>For the first time, a cancer patient in the city succumbed to coronavirus on Saturday.</p>.<p>The patient — P557 — was a 63-year-old man with diabetes, hypertension, hypothyroidism, renal failure and multiple myeloma. He was admitted with complaints of breathlessness on April 30 and died on May 2 at Victoria Hospital.</p>.<p>Dr Vishal Rao, head and neck cancer surgeon, HCG Hospital, said: “Multiple myeloma is a cancer of the plasma cells, a type of white blood cell that normally produces antibodies. The chance of a five-year survival is 50%.”</p>.<p>Dr C Ramachandra, director, Kidwai Memorial Institute of Oncology, said myeloma impacts the bone marrow. “The patients will have more immunosuppression compared to normal people,” he said. “Such patients are at a high risk of getting Covid-19. Several people suffering from myeloma are receiving chemotherapy at Kidwai.” He said Kidwai had tested close to 300 cancer patients for Covid-19, including inpatients and those at the early stages of investigation, but none have tested positive so far.</p>.<p>While Kidwai had tested 45 patients on the first day and 25 in patients on the second, the hospital has ramped up testing to 300 in the past four days. Even those attending patients are screened.</p>.<p>“Any patient who approaches us for chemotherapy, surgery or radiation is tested for Covid-19,” Dr Ramachandra said. “We test both old and new patients.”</p>.<p class="CrossHead"><strong>Screening area </strong></p>.<p>A screening area has been set up at Kidwai’s campus under a shamyana (tent). “We have our personnel donning PPEs there. They are either checked for Covid-19 and sent in or sent to a designated isolation hospital if they show symptoms,” Ramachandra said.</p>.<p>Curing myeloma depends on the stage of the cancer, he added. If the cancer is found at a single site, the chances of cure are higher than when the cancer is found in multiple sites.</p>.<p>“Plasma cell is a small cell tumour. So, it responds well to chemotherapy. It is curable if the patients come to us early. If the tumour spreads extensively in the body, they may not be able to tolerate chemotherapy. Such patients succumb (to the disease),” he said.</p>
