Doctors from the League Against Cancer are already worried about delays in the care of cancer patients when the second wave of Covid-19 hits France.
- The drop in screening activity has been estimated at 30% during the confinement period, which could translate into an increase in cancer mortality between 2 and 5% within 5 years.
- Not all non-emergency operations during containment have been rescheduled
- Doctors insist on the need for patients to continue to be tested and taken care of despite the current health situation
The health situation is deteriorating sharply in France and raises fears of the worst. Doctors from the League Against Cancer warn of the collateral damage of the Covid-19 epidemic concerning screening, care or even the continuation of treatment for cancer patients. Professor Axel Kahn, also president of the League against cancer, shared his fear, at the microphone of France infothat the accumulated delay in patient care is not “never caught up, even increases” during the winter.
Increase in cancer mortality estimated between 2 and 5% within 5 years
Overcrowding in hospitals raises fears of a similar situation last spring. “As soon as the containment was put in place on March 17, all systematic screening for cancers of the cervix, breast or prostate were completely interrupted until June.recalled Axel Kahn. During this period, we expected to make around 64,000 diagnoses. Roughly speaking, we only achieved half of it.” The decline in screening activity has been estimated at 30% during the confinement period, which could translate into an increase in cancer mortality between 2 and 5% within 5 years.
Systematic screenings resumed in July, but the worsening of the situation brought back the specters of the first wave. Furthermore, “operations that were not urgent at the time have not all been rescheduled for the moment”, notes the president of the League against cancer. These are in addition to the new cases that are falling behind in being taken care of, from screening to treatment. “Often, the patient delays consulting. Then it takes him three to four months to accept the diagnosis. And with the confinement, many only came to consult us in September”, regrets Julien Taieb, head of the digestive oncology department at the Georges-Pompidou European Hospital in Paris.
No link between chemotherapy and Covid-19
“We have seen the reappearance of catastrophic states, with management of brain metastases that we rarely see in our digestive cancer pathologies”, observes Julien Taied. It is impossible for the moment to know whether this is due to the accumulated delay in the screening and management of patients or to the fact that the patients presented themselves in these services at the same time. The excess risk of cancer could worsen in the event of a second wave. Something to scare patients like Valérie, suffering from cancer and interviewed by Franceinfo, who considers herself “to still be the collateral victim of this new wave”.
Doctors insist on the need for patients to continue to be screened and taken care of despite the current health situation. “The collateral effect must not be worse than the harm”, asserts Julien Taieb. They insist on the need to come to the hospital which “is not a dangerous place”, specifies the latter, who also wants to be reassuring about the possibility for cancer patients of contracting Covid-19. “Chemotherapy does not favor the Covid and it does not give a more serious form to the cancer either.”, he concludes.
.
