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Anonymous
Anonymous asked in HealthDiseases & ConditionsCancer · 3 weeks ago

 Pancreatic cancer patient dies of covid 19. Is it possible chemo made his system too weak to withstand coronavirus?

He was in some palliative care facility and there was outbreak there. He was stage 4 already. 

12 Answers

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  • Anonymous
    1 week ago

    It's very possible. My mom hasn't left the house since Covid started. She's 69 and two and a half years removed from breast cancer treatments. She did 6 rounds of chemo, 33 rounds of radiation, and 26 rounds of herceptin.

    In some ways, she's still recovering from the treatments.

  • Anonymous
    2 weeks ago

    Possibly but pancreatic cancer is usually a death sentence anyway.

  • 2 weeks ago

    Unfortunately, pancreatic cancer is almost always a death sentence whether the person gets covid or not.

  • 2 weeks ago

    If he was in a palliative care facility, he received very limited treatment for covid.

    He might have received nebulizer breathing treatments to aid in breathing.

    But anything beyond this like corticosteroids he would not have been given.

    This is no different than if he had had the flu or pneumonia while receiving palliative care. 

    Palliative care means receive comfort care but not treatment.

    It is not the same as hospice care.

    Also, all forms of pancreatic cancer don't have a low survival rate.  It depends where the tumor is located.  If it's on the front of the pancreas, then surgery may be an option.  But if it's on the back, it's not usually accessible. 

  • Anonymous
    2 weeks ago

    Of course chemo weakens a person's immune system.

  • 2 weeks ago

    Having a pre existing condition is one reason some people die from Covid-19.  However, determining the official cause of death would be the final thing that made him die.  No matter how weak or sick a person is, if they likely would have lived a little longer if they had not gotten the Covid, that was the cause of death.  Covid was the last straw, and thereforetheultimate cause of death. 

  • 3 weeks ago

    Possibly... It's also a good chance the cancer itself made him more susceptible. The immune system of someone with end-stage cancer is gonna be shot to hell anyway, chemo or no chemo.

  • Tavy
    Lv 7
    3 weeks ago

    He died of the cancer , having Covid made no difference.

  • 3 weeks ago

    yes... possibly it happened to him... 

  • 3 weeks ago

    Stage 4 pancreatic cancer is terminal.

    Once on palliative care there is generally less than 6 weeks life expectancy.

    Yes, chemotherapy can temporarily damage the immune system and vulnerable to infection but it is typically ceased before patient moves to palliative care.

    If you must blame someone, blame whoever entered the facility while infectious it that patient's life expectancy was only a few weeks . 

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