Purpose To evaluate the impact of testing asymptomatic cancer patients, we analyzed all tests for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) before and during radiotherapy at a tertiary cancer center throughout the second wave of the pandemic in Germany. Methods Results of all real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) tests for SARS-CoV‑2 performed at our radio-oncology department between 13 October 2020 and 11 March 2021 were included. Clinical data and anamnestic information at the time of testing were documented and examined for (i) the presence of COVID-19-related symptoms and (ii) virus-related anamnesis (high-risk [prior positive test or contact to a positive tested person within the last 14 days] or low-risk [inconspicuous anamnesis within the last 14 days]). Results A total of 1056 SARS-CoV‑2 tests in 543 patients were analyzed. Of those, 1015 tests were performed in asymptomatic patients and 41 tests in patients with COVID-19-associated symptoms. Two of 940 (0.2%) tests in asymptomatic patients with low-risk anamnesis and three of 75 (4.0%) tests in asymptomatic patients with high-risk anamnesis showed a positive result. For symptomatic patients, SARS-CoV‑2 was detected in three of 36 (8.3%) low-risk and three of five (60.0%) high-risk tests. Conclusion To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study evaluating the correlation between individual risk factors and positivity rates of SARS-CoV‑2 tests in cancer patients. The data demonstrate that clinical and anamnestic assessment is a simple and effective measure to distinctly increase SARS-CoV‑2 test efficiency. This might enable cancer centers to adjust test strategies in asymptomatic patients, especially when test resources are scarce. Supplementary Information The online version of this article (10.1007/s00066-021-01853-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
【저자키워드】 COVID-19, SARS-CoV‑2 testing, Radiation Oncology, Radiotherapy, Real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests, 【초록키워드】 SARS-CoV-2, pandemic, knowledge, risk factor, severe acute respiratory syndrome Coronavirus, RT-PCR, Symptoms, Severe acute respiratory syndrome, polymerase chain reaction, Symptomatic patients, Asymptomatic, Radiotherapy, Germany, clinical, Patient, Cancer patients, second wave, respiratory, correlation, information, resource, asymptomatic patients, asymptomatic patient, SARS-CoV‑2, Coronavirus-2, Contact, Efficiency, best, Chain Reaction, Cancer center, acute respiratory syndrome, supplementary material, acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus, Clinical data, acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2, Positive test, COVID-19-related symptoms, FIVE, effective, polymerase chain, Result, tested, analyzed, performed, evaluate, examined, adjust, COVID-19-related symptom, 【제목키워드】 Stratification, Efficiency, cancer patient, SARS-CoV-2 test, increase,