Rethinking Cancer Screening and Diagnosis During the Covid-19Pandemic

Abstract

The decline in cancer diagnosis during this pandemic has been reported previously [1]. yet the recently reported data by Maringe C et al are unique and illustrating a substantial increase in the number of cancer deaths are to be expected as a result of diagnostic delays due to the pandemic in the UK [2,3]. Despite the results being conservative estimates, they are still deeply concerning. The total additional years of life lost across these cancers is estimated to be 59,204 to 63,229 years within 5 years. This data raises the alarm to pay very careful attention to many recent guidelines that postpone or even delaying elective cancer screening procedures until the end of the pandemic [4, 5].