During the COVID-19 crisis, cancer diagnoses of six of the most common types of cancer have decreased 46 percent. Those are breast, colo-rectal, lung, pancreatic, gastric and esophageal cancers.
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Marie: From Minnesota Native News… this is a COVID-19 Daily Update.
MARIE: I’m Marie Rock.
MARIE:
During the COVID-19 crisis, cancer diagnoses of six of the most common types of cancer have decreased 46 percent. Those are breast, colo-rectal, lung, pancreatic, gastric and esophageal cancers.
Why have the number of diagnoses gone down? Dr. Nabil Wasif [pronounced nah-BEEL WAH-sif], chair of Surgical Oncology with the Mayo Clinic, speculates it has something to do with people putting off routine screenings because of the pandemic.
Dr. Wasif: And patients who are having mild symptoms may not be seeking medical attention. Whereas under normal circumstances, they may have gone to see their doctor right away and have uncovered a problem early.
MARIE:
People without any symptoms at all are also delaying their annual or routine screenings.
Routine screenings are recommended for breast, cervical and colon cancers—and for smokers, CT scans for lung cancer.
Though people are avoiding clinics out of concern for COVID, Dr. Wasif [WAH-sif] says safety measures practiced by the clinic and patients, such as masking up, disinfecting and social distancing, have reduced the potential for infection.
Dr. Waif: So the main risk is that instead of a cancer being picked up early on a screening test, before the patient’s having any symptoms, it gets diagnosed at a much more advanced stage. We know that for most cancers, your best chance for cure is when we pick it up early.
For MN Native News…. I’m Marie Rock.
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Marie: This MN Native News COVID-19 Daily Update is supported by the MN Dept. of Health.