Lancet sub-journal: The reasons behind this year's record-breaking drop in cancer diagnoses are worrying!

, June 7, 2020 /PRNewswire/
-- Cancer care has changed dramatically as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic: many patients do not see a gp or delay their treatment, but are later transferred to hospitalAs a result, according to the Dutch Cancer Registry's preliminary diagnosis report based on the PALGA Pathology Database, the number of cancer cases diagnoseddecreased by a quarter in a few weeksDr Avinash Dinmohamed of ikNL and Professor Sabine Siesling of IKNL and Twente University and colleagues reported a decline in the number of cancer diagnoses in the Journal of The Lancet
OncologyProfessor Siesling said: "The Netherlands cancer diagnosis data is one of the most unique in the world because it covers the whole country and is quickly availableBased on this, we can respond quickly to the decline ofdiagnosticBased on trends in the Netherlands, other countries may be able to confirm their doubts about the impact of the crisis and take steps to ensure that routine care covering all parts of the care path is restored"
picture source: University of Twente
sharing Dutch data with care professionals and researchers around the world, enabling countries with out-of-date records to cope with the decline in diagnosesDue to the long-standing close cooperation between IKNL and the National Pathology Archive, PALGA, the number of cancer diagnoses in the Netherlands was reported only two weeks after a live tissue testThis system is one of the most unique in the world The figures show that diagnoses have fallen, so the government is calling on people to go to their family doctors It has also prompted hospitals and General Practitioners to make strenuous efforts to restore non-COVID-19-related care, and more specifically, cancer care Recent data show an increase in the diagnosis of of skin cancer and breast cancer, but not in most other cancers decline in diagnoses
at the height of the COVID-19 crisis, the number of cancer diagnoses excluding skin cancer was about a quarter lower than usual per week The decline may be due to delays in GP visits and referrals and delays in hospital diagnosis in cases of skin cancer, the number of diagnoses has more than halved in a matter of weeks The most common types of skin cancer, such as squamous cell carcinoma, are found in older people, who may avoid seeing a family doctor because they are afraid of COVID-19 The potential harm caused by the late diagnosis of these most common types of skin cancer appears to be limited because they are rarely life-threatening Nevertheless, there is still a great deal of care to be provided For many other types of cancer, diagnosis continues to decrease and the backlog needs to be addressed to avoid the adverse effects of late-stage diagnosis and treatment unique international data results were published on the 15th weekend as The Lancet Oncology accelerated the review and publication process These results have attracted the attention of researchers and nursing professionals around the world who can take action on this information to address the challenges of maintaining cancer care in their countries during pandemics The Dutch Cancer Registry and PALGA are unique internationally because they cover the whole country and data are available very quickly From this data, researchers are learning how to improve health care over time In addition, it provides fast information on the number of diagnoses during the COVID-19 crisis Based on the trends we have observed in the Netherlands, other countries can assess the impact of this crisis on cancer treatment in addition to the number of diagnoses, IKNL monitors the effects of the COVID-19 crisis on treatment patterns and ultimately the results of treatment Information can be found on the website (BioValleyBioon.com) References: 1 Decline in Cancer disease s disease to crisis
2: Avinash G Dinmohamed et al.
Fewer cancer ys covid-19 ei in the Netherlands, The Lancet Oncology (2020) DOI: 10.1016/s1470-2045 (20) 30265-5
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COVID-19 en kanker