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TERAVOLT is a global consortium dedicated to the treatment of patients with thoracic malignancies who have come together to understand the impact of COVID-19 on cancer patients. The steering committee is made up of experts from the world’s leading medical research organisations.
Cancer patients are at increased risk of SARS-CoV-2 related complications and death. The reported all-cause mortality for patients with cancer and COVID-19 in large studies ranges between 13% and 28%, which is much higher than that in the community (1·8–7·2%). Patients with haematological and thoracic malignancies seem to have a higher mortality. Prognostic factors are age, performance status, comorbidities, disease stage and status, gender and smoking habits. The role of oncological treatments received is still debatable, e.g. does chemotherapy increase the risks? Moreover, interaction between viral immune response and immunotherapy remains to be explored.
TERAVOLT is a multicentre, international, observational, cross-sectional retrospective study which includes patients with any thoracic cancer (NSCLC, small-cell lung cancer, mesothelioma, thymic epithelial tumours, and other pulmonary neuroendocrine neoplasms) and a COVID-19 diagnosis. Comprehensive data on demographics, oncological history and comorbidities, COVID-19 diagnosis, and course of illness and clinical outcomes are collected.
TERAVOLT is committed to understanding the impact of COVID-19 on thoracic malignancies. Specifically, the consortium aims to:
ERS will financially support data collection for the project, which is to be carried out by ERS members of Assembly 11 Thoracic oncology who are based in Europe.
To access this funding, investigators must comply with the eligibility criteria and rules and submit the signed agreement to the ERS office via email: scientific@ersnet.org
