Louis Potters, MD, FACR, FASTRO, on Continuing Cancer Care During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Louis Potters, MD, FACR, FASTRO, deputy physician-in-chief at Northwell Health Cancer Institute, as well as professor and chair of Radiation Medicine at the Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell, spoke with CancerNetwork® about how the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has impacted his ability to treat patients with cancer. 

Potters primarily focuses on treating those with prostate cancer, and he indicated that one of the most important modifications that he has implemented has been delaying cancer treatments for patients. However, for patients who still have to come in for daily treatments, Potters said that they have begun taking additional necessary precautions, such as masking patients. 

“There’s a whole number of protocols in place for trying to manage either staff or patients that are sick outside of the routine, which is pretty much masking,” said Potters. “Actually, we continue to have a patient who’s positive that we’re treating, that’s coming in for radiation, and so we’ve established a policy for treating that patient... And that’s actually worked out really well.”

Overall though, Potters suggested that the most important thing that oncologists can do during the pandemic is to be there for patients when needed. 

“I do think that the most important thing that we can do for cancer patients is to be there for access that they need us for, given the fact that COVID doesn’t cure cancer and these patients really need our services and help,” Potters said.

This segment comes from the CancerNetwork^® portion of the MJH Life Sciences National Broadcast, airing daily on all MJH Life Sciences channels.