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Screening and treatment of latent tuberculosis in patients with solid tumors and systemic cancer therapy

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Abstract

Introduction

Tuberculosis is one of the infectious diseases with greater morbidity and mortality worldwide. Cancer causes an important immunosuppression with increased risk of infections. There is an enlarged bidirectional incidence between tuberculosis and cancer, mainly due to latent tuberculosis.

Guidelines review

There is great discrepancy between recommendations for screening and prophylaxis of latent tuberculosis in patients with solid tumors and systemic cancer therapy among different medical societies and guidelines. Most infectious diseases guidelines recommend it, while most oncology guidelines do not.

Discussion

Patients with solid tumours generally have a limited life expectancy and a state of intermittent immunosuppression, resulting in a lower risk of tuberculosis reactivation than other risky populations. There is a lack of prospective and retrospective studies analysing the benefit of screening and prophylaxis in this population. The first step is to study the incidence of active tuberculosis in this population to estimate the real magnitude of the problem.

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Data availability

All data generated or analysed during this study are included in this article. Further enquiries can be directed to the corresponding author.

Data sharing is not applicable to this article as no new data were created or analyzed in this study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Servicio de Oncología Médica del Hospital General Universitario de Elche, Carrer Almazara, 11, 03203, Elche, Alicante, Spain

    Miguel Borregón & David Sánchez

  2. Servicio de Oncología Médica del Hospital Universitario de Fuenlabrada, Madrid, Spain

    Elia Martínez

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  1. Miguel Borregón
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Correspondence to Miguel Borregón.

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Borregón, M., Sánchez, D. & Martínez, E. Screening and treatment of latent tuberculosis in patients with solid tumors and systemic cancer therapy. Clin Transl Oncol (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12094-024-03433-4

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