Thread by @bopinion

Covid-19 means cancer patients aren't getting treated.

That could mean an additional 50,000 people die from cancer in the in the U.K. and U.S. over the next year trib.al/Ul7ghCA

A study published in April estimated the number of excess deaths likely to occur among people with cancer during Covid-19 in the next 12 months:

🇬🇧U.K.: 18,000 additional cancer deaths
🇺🇸U.S.: 33,890 trib.al/Ul7ghCA

At every stage of a patient’s cancer pathway, the coronavirus has slowed things down.

⏱In April, the median length of time patients in England waited for treatment was 12.2 weeks, with more than a million waiting longer than 18 weeks trib.al/Ul7ghCA

Urgent cancer referrals in England fell by 60% in April compared with the same month last year, with the lowest proportion ever getting seen within two weeks.

That’s a major concern: Early diagnosis is vitally important to cancer survival rates trib.al/Ul7ghCA

During the first 10 weeks of lockdown, @CR_UK estimates that:

➡️12,750 fewer patients received cancer surgery
➡️6,000 fewer had chemotherapy
➡️2,800 missed radiotherapy trib.al/Ul7ghCA

The U.K. lags behind many other advanced countries in one- and five-year survival rates for most cancers.

It had been steadily improving, but now the pandemic threatens to set back cancer care considerably trib.al/Ul7ghCA

Key to Britain’s progress was reducing the lag time for diagnostic services, but that critical step has been disrupted.

The NHS stopped sending out screening invitations, and the number of diagnostic tests performed dropped dramatically in April trib.al/Ul7ghCA

Cancer patients who receive stem cell transplants are among the most vulnerable to Covid-19 because of their highly compromised immune systems.

One U.K. charity says they’ve seen a 25% reduction in the number of transplants trib.al/Ul7ghCA

In order to deal with the huge testing and treatment backlog, health care providers need the:

👩🏽‍⚕️Workforce
😷PPE
💉Covid-19 testing for patients and staff

All three are in short supply trib.al/Ul7ghCA

Apart from capacity constraints, providers now need to weigh the risk of giving immune-compromised patients treatment that will make them more vulnerable to complications from Covid-19 trib.al/Ul7ghCA

➡️A lack of Covid-19 testing
➡️Delays to contact tracing
➡️Unclear government guidance

These things also hamper the fight against cancer. The longer it takes to resume services, the greater the chance that we’ll lurch from one health crisis into another trib.al/Ul7ghCA