Dana-Farber Cancer Institute came before the pandemic, nearly 1,000 new patients each week in Boston for treatment consultation. If COVID-19 Massachusetts met this spring, the number of new consultations declined moved from the middle and the hospital, the number of online appointments as possible. Now, with the case of relatively low daily counts in the area, is the back to the hospital for more than 800 consultations a week programming, with a mixture of Tele and personal appointments, says the head Associate Medical Officer Dr. Andrew Wagner but that means more than 200 cancer patients a week consultation will not get treatment that would in more normal times. Continue travel restrictions and fear of infection may play a role, but many potential patients do not set appointments because they do not need to know. The number of screening for cancer happens at the national level fell this spring when lockdowns came into force, many of the people, that is, looking for the treatment of Wagner and his colleagues would not know they have cancer at all. “Five months in, with the methods and equipment, we have created to ensure the safety of our patients and our staff, the possible health effects of [screening cancellation for] tumor to ensure greater concern of the pandemic,” he says Wagner. If COVID-19 US hit canceled this spring, hospitals in many areas undergoing elective surgery personnel and resources for patients deviation corona treated and promoted the human use of telemedicine or non-urgent doctor visits delay. so it was necessary to try to stop the spread of the virus has led to unintended consequences While doing. said about 40% of Americans recently, they were not able to some kind of treatment to achieve due to the pandemic, and studies show ER overturned nationwide. unintended consequences begin with those who do not even know for cancer patients who have the disease yet. Studies suggest that a fall of about 80% in the appointments of routine screening has led the pandemic, new cases of cancer could start in March and April. some prices recovered in late spring, but a paper account for about 60% less of the breast, colon and cervical cancer exams from mid-March to mid-June, compared to the years before appreciated. That translates into hundreds of thousands of missed tests at national level and among those who have in him to do the undetected or cancer precursors for the loss of potential early diagnosis and intervention. Part of the problem, Wagner says, is that the vast majority of cancer screening can not be done practically. Most screenings require a personal approach, like a colonoscopy (for colon cancer), mammography (breast cancer) or a Pap test (cervical cancer). Some clinics can test for colon cancer with a stool sample of patients from home to send and dermatologists may be able to watch an unusual mole but at a distance that’s where the list ends. Even away for testing for cancer of the colon and rectum, are often used as they could be, says Dr. Rachel Issaka, a gastroenterologist and clinical researcher at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle. “In this time of social distancing, this is really an opportunity for us to use these large-scale trials to begin,” said Issaka. “This time there needed to be a little ‘more creative.” The stakes are high. Projections translated during the pandemic less than a lower number of cancer diagnosis, the data show. According to an estimate, the weekly number of diagnoses for breast, colon, lung, pancreas, stomach and esophageal cancer by about half fell during the pandemic. US Preventive Services Task Force recommendations set specific requirements for the screening test and how often. Most tumors are slow growing enough that these intervals will miss a couple of months ago a lot of difference, says Dr. David Cohn, medical director at the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center. “But the greatest fear is that a couple of months in a few years to turn,” he says. If a cancer goes undetected for years, the patient’s prognosis may be sad, he says. Patients who have had prior to pandemic experts disorders diagnosed and service. The Center for the control and prevention of diseases never recommended that people postpone their care with a diagnosis of cancer, but cancer patients and their doctors have the difficult task of having to weigh the risk of COVID-19 against the urgency of cancer treatment. Over time, last month reported some patients chemotherapy and latent radiation to be administered in medical facilities under professional supervision. In a survey in April of patients with breast cancer, 44% reported treatment delays pandemic of a figure that has been relatively constant, regardless of the stage of the cancer during. The highest delay rate hit a routine follow-up surgery and breast reconstruction. But about a third of respondents delays in cancer treatments that take in a medical facility, including radiation, infusion therapy and surgical removal of the tumor reported. It ‘too early to say what will be the consequences of any delay in screening, diagnosis and treatment. Dr. Ned Sharpless, who leads the National Cancer Institute, the American United States at the National Institutes of Health, estimated that the pandemic-related delays in screening and treatment of cancer in the years to around 10,000 deaths in a row ten more ( in the upper part of which is generally covered 1 million deaths), breast cancer and colon cancer alone. The analysis of these two types of cancer, representing all cancer deaths by about one-sixth, is based on a conservative model that assumes the last contingent of six months delays pandemic. “Even a small drop-off a significant impact on population health,” says Cohn. We will not see these dead for several years, the data show how many types of cancer in the course severity over a relatively long period. Most patients hospitals and doctors offices for encouraging return to routine care. Many have implemented security protocols (eg restrictions on visitors, waiting rooms and mandatory COVID-19 tests for some patients and staff to get rid of), it will do for most patients safely for testing screening, says Cohn. And there is at least a possibility, telemedicine can help treat cancer, Cohn says. Patients who are nervous or unique risk factors were able to take the risks and benefits to make an appointment with your doctor before you speak at home.
As the 19-COVID pandemic Cancer Care changed in four charts
