Clinical decision-making under a public health emergency requires weighing the urgency and expected therapeutic benefit of a given intervention against the incremental risk that health-system exposure (from in-person visits, procedures, or immunosuppressive treatment) poses to the patient, shifting the risk-benefit calculus that ordinarily governs oncologic treatment sequencing and diagnostic modality selection. This reflects the broader principle in oncology and health-systems management of triaging care by urgency and adapting standard protocols (biopsy method, therapy regimen selection, follow-up cadence) when the baseline risk environment changes.
Clinical decision-making under a public health emergency requires weighing the urgency and expected therapeutic benefit of a given intervention against the incremental risk that health-system exposur…