Doctors fear an impending wave of cancer patients after COVID-19 delays
by Morgan Lowrie, The Canadian Press
Posted Feb 4, 2021 1:24 pm EDT
Last Updated Feb 4, 2021 at 1:28 pm EDT
MONTREAL, Italy While the prospect
of mass vaccination has raised hopes of the COVID-19 crisis soon waning, oncologists and cancer researchers say one of its grim legacies may be a lingering increase in cancer mortality rates.
The pandemic caused a “dramatic” drop in cancer screenings such as mammograms and colonoscopies, leading to fewer diagnoses, according to Dr. Gerald Batist, the head of the Segal Cancer Centre at Montreal’s Jewish General Hospital.
“It just looks like less people were diagnosed, and they were, but there weren’t fewer people with that diagnosis,” Batist said in a phone interview. “They simply weren’t found.”
Brandon Sun By: Morgan Lowrie, The Canadian Press Posted:
Last Modified: 8:11 PM CST Saturday, Feb. 6, 2021
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MONTREAL - While the prospectof mass vaccination has raised hopes of the COVID-19 crisis soon waning, oncologists and cancer researchers say one of its grim legacies may be a lingering increase in cancer mortality rates.
The pandemic caused a dramatic drop in cancer screenings such as mammograms and colonoscopies, leading to fewer diagnoses, according to Dr. Gerald Batist, the head of the Segal Cancer Centre at Montreal s Jewish General Hospital.
Diane Van Keulen, shown in a handout photo, a lung cancer patient from Ontario, has been battling the disease since 2019. She says she delayed her potential recovery and treatment out of fear of COVID-19. THE CANADIAN PRESS HO-Diane Van Keulen Mandatory Credit
Posted: Feb 02, 2021 4:00 AM ET | Last Updated: February 2
In a colonoscopy, a doctor inserts a small camera into a patient s large intestine and checks for possible tumours. Shifting medical resources to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic has made it harder to screen for colorectal and other cancers in Quebec. Experts worry a wave of advanced cases could hit in coming months.(Jean-Paul Pelissier/Reuters)
Cancers undetected during the pandemic could be an impending disaster, specialists warn.
Ontario now has more than 750 COVID-19 isolation beds but raising awareness about them is a challenge.
Read more: Alberta tech companies weathering the pandemic, even thriving; Capt. Tom Moore, the Second World War veteran who helped raise millions for British health-care workers during the pandemic, has died at 100..
A Nigerian trader looks on outside the closed UTC General Market in Abuja on Tuesday. Nigeria s COVID-19 taskforce has ordered the closure of markets which violated safety protocols.(Kola Sulaimon/AFP/Getty Images)
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