Do you re-test patients who test positive for COVID-19 during or prior to starting cancer treatment?
There are mixed recommendations about re-testing vs simply waiting for a quarantine period prior to resuming therapy.
Answer from: Radiation Oncologist at Academic Institution
Here is a summary from the CDC website supporting a 'symptom-based' approach with self-quarantine for ~10-14 days after symptoms (perhaps 21 if severely immunocompromised or severe COVID symptoms) without need for a negative test.
From: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/hcp...
Answer from: Radiation Oncologist at Academic Institution
At our institution, we do not perform any re-testing for COVID+ positive patients for radiation therapy treatments. Our medical oncologists do have different algorithms for patients depending on the nature of the chemotherapy regimen and the degree of potential immunosuppression. They do perform for...