Cancer Diagnosis: The Pandemic Caused a Big Delay, Experts Say

The COVID-19 pandemic has another dimension, partly due to Christina Dean’s delay in diagnosing cancer.

Last May, two 35-year-old mothers found a lump about the size of a $ 2 coin on their right chest.

However, it took six months to get rid of advanced cancer after being tested, diagnosed, and finally operated on in December.

“It has doubled in size and the scars are much larger than if I had caught it before,” Dean told CTV News.

It grew finely every month, and when it was finally removed, it was 5 cm in size.

“By the time I had surgery, I saw a lump through my shirt.”

Although the guidelines recommend that the cancer be imaged within 30 days, patients report reports of delays over several months during the pandemic.

On Twitter, a woman in British Columbia found a lump in late October and said she was still waiting for a medical scan. The doctor has written an email to her colleague asking for help in performing an emergency biopsy for a woman with suspected cancer.

The dean, who recently started chemotherapy, says everyone who was waiting to find out what was happening with the lump did the damage.

“The sacrifice it brings to the family-your mental health, your physical health, your work. I couldn’t wait all this time,” she said.

And new research from Ontario suggests that the problem is bigger than previously thought.

Report published in the Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network On February 1, the number of people diagnosed with cancer during the first wave of COVID-19 in 2020 in Ontario was 12,601 less than the previous year, a 34% decrease. Would you like to add a link?

This new data shows that this reduction in the incidence of new cancers is most likely the result of no cancer being detected in the year before the pandemic, when the healthcare system was not overwhelmed by the virus. .. ..

“The incidence of cancer has been fairly stable over the past few years, but suddenly there have been thousands of’missing’cancers,” said Dr. Antoine Eskander, author and cancer surgeon at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Center. Told CTV News.

“They are there, but not presented. Therefore, it can be inferred that they are growing, not detected in the usual way, and are likely to present with advanced disease.”

Studies show If cancer treatment is delayed by just four weeks, the risk of death can increase by about 10%.

Dr. Jean Seeley is President of the Canadian Breast Imaging Society and Co-Chair of the Breast Working Group of the Canadian Radiological Technologist Association. She also said it was part of the Canadian Association of Radiologists and it was painful to see patients with small, treatable lumps develop large tumors with a poor prognosis.

“We are very suffering because we can’t help the patient, and I think we’re suffering from this when we can’t help raise what we know. “Masu,” she told CTV News.

Researchers say some of the missing diagnoses may be due to people who are hesitant to see a doctor for fear of COVID-19 during a pandemic, but cancer Tests to diagnose the possibility of cancer are also delayed.

According to experts, the comprehensive problem is that the pandemic is crippling the health system. COVID-19 depleted staff, delayed bookings, delayed repairs and replacement of imaging equipment — in addition to the backlog from the previous wave.

“There is no easy way to say this, but men and women are dying. [to] Because of COVID, I got cancer because of the delay, “Seely said.

The state says plans are underway on how to recover timely diagnosis and treatment of cancer patients.

However, Escander says he is worried about his ability to deal with all cases waiting to be diagnosed.

“It’s the same urgency we use to treat COVID and should be used to treat surgical backlogs,” he said. “I think we have to treat the surgical backlog as an emergency.”

He explained: “Access to surgery is actually the pulsation of our medical system.

“And frankly, we shouldn’t underestimate the very large and significant delays and backlogs of not being able to catch up. As far as I know, there is no clear path. That big hurdle. I have no personally creative idea of ​​how to overcome it. “

The medical system was so exhausted in the third year of the pandemic that doctors don’t know how to catch up.

Dean, meanwhile, says patients are trying to support each other online and navigate a pandemic-crazy system.

“We have no voice,” she said. “We really don’t have a platform to do [talk about how] I don’t know if they have cancer. Or it’s very difficult to get treatment because you’re waiting for treatment. “

Cancer professionals across the country are holding meetings to find solutions on how to resume rapid diagnosis and treatment in the face of COVID-19. However, at this point, the future direction is not clear.