https://doi.org/10.1140/epjp/s13360-022-03262-w
Review
What molecular imaging of cancer patients can teach us about COVID-19
Department of Advanced Biomedical Sciences, University of Naples “Federico II”, Naples, Italy
Received:
29
March
2022
Accepted:
2
September
2022
Published online:
19
September
2022
COVID-19 pandemic had a great impact on health systems and cancer care worldwide. Patients with cancer who develop COVID-19 are at high risk of severe outcomes and clarifying the determinants of such vulnerability of cancer patients would be of great clinical benefit. While the mechanisms of SARS-CoV-2 infection have been elucidated, the pathogenetic pathways leading to severe manifestations of the disease are largely unknown. Critical manifestations of COVID-19 mainly occur in elderly patients and in patients with serious comorbidities including cancer. Efforts to understand the intersection of pathways between severe manifestations of COVID-19 and cancer may shed light on the pathogenesis of critical illness in COVID-19 patients. Here, we will focus our attention on two major fields of potential intersection between COVID-19 and cancer, namely the dysfunction of immune system and the prothrombotic state that can occur in both COVID-19 and cancer patients, testing whether cancer imaging can provide clues to better understand such interactions.
© The Author(s) 2022
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