Cancer specialists have been reporting that the drop in preventive screenings from the initial COVID-19 lockdown will have consequences.
The same is true for lung cancer screenings, and numbers have not bounced back from pre-pandemic numbers. Some of this is now confirmed by the lead author of a new University of Cincinnati study, released in the Journal of the American College of Surgeons.
Robert Van Haren, MD, a UC Cancer Center researcher, assistant professor of surgery at the University of Cincinnati and a UC Health Thoracic Surgeon, says his research shows a dangerous trend in lung cancer.
"We looked back at our cancer screening program. It's a program that uses CT scans to find lung nodules and lung cancers early," he says. "It's an important program because it reduces cancer mortality related to lung cancer, because we find those cancers earlier and then patients do better. When we reopened, we found that new patients were less likely to come for their lung cancer screening. We also found patients were more likely to be a no-show for their appointments.
"Most importantly, we found when we resumed our lung screening operations, patients were more likely to have lung nodules that were suspicious for a cancer. Then, they were sent on to procedures or biopsies to confirm and treat the cancer."
