Impact of COVID-19 on the Diagnosis and Management of Multiple Myeloma: Experience from a Canadian Center.

BACKGROUND:The impact of coronavirus disease-19 on the management of multiple myeloma (MM) has been recognized. However, the real effect on clinical outcomes remains poorly understood. OBJECTIVE:We describe a local experience of the management of MM patients and report their outcomes during the current pandemic. METHODS:All consecutive symptomatic MM patients seen at our center since 03/20 were evaluated. RESULTS:A cohort of 156 patients diagnosed from 01/19 to 12/20 was analyzed to interrogate differences in presentation patterns. A total of 553 MM patients were seen and/or treated at Tom Baker Cancer Center in the year of 2020. From those, 47.1% (n = 261) were tested for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2). Sixteen patients tested positive and data are presented. In addition, a decrease of 21.7% in the rate of new smoldering MM/MM diagnosis was observed in 2020 as compared to 2019. Further, an increase in deaths was also observed in 2020. CONCLUSIONS:Our study confirms an increase lethality for MM patients infected with SARS-CoV-2. A balance between safety and need for cancer control should be emphasized.