TORONTO Many cancer patients have been stuck waiting for life-saving surgeries, according to a new study using Ontario data, confirming worries about the impact of the enormous and growing backlog of procedures caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. And itâs not just cancer patients. Doctors are warning that the health care system has yet to return to pre-pandemic surgical rates, let alone clearing the backlog, with over a quarter of a million people in Ontario alone on standby for life saving operations. The study, published in JAMA, showed a dramatic 60 per cent drop in cancer surgeries when the pandemic began a year ago, as hospitals reallocated resources like beds, ventilators, and medical staff to ensure they were prepared for a sudden influx of COVID-19 cases.
Doctors fear an impending wave of cancer patients after COVID-19 delays - Canada News castanet.net - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from castanet.net Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
MONTREAL 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.
The pandemic caused a “dramatic” drop in screenings such as mammograms and colonoscopies, leading to fewer diagnoses. Morgan Lowrie, Canadian Press
wutwhanfoto via Getty Images
MONTREAL 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.”