Cancer is confirmed as one of the greatest collateral damage caused by the pandemic. Specifically, screening and early detection programs for different types of tumors, which have collapsed during 2020.
In addition to the deaths or chronic sequelae that the virus has caused among those infected, there are thousands of people who have developed cancer without being detected in time for fear of setting foot in a health center or because when he exposed his symptoms through a telephone consultation the problem was overlooked.
The annual report of the Economic and Social Council of Castilla y León confirms, with data from the Ministry of Health, that 2020 was the most disastrous year in memory from the point of view of diagnoses.
Oncologists say so. “The pandemic has not had an impact on medical treatment, but on early diagnosis,” said Dr. Juan Jesús Cruz months ago. It means that every patient with detected cancer has been treated exactly the same in 2020 as in 2019. The difference between one year and another is that far fewer have been detected.
For example, in the early detection of breast cancer, the reduction in control mammograms has been 46%. Normal escaping cases.
During 2019, more than 14,000 mammograms were performed and 1,178 tumors were detected. 8.3% positive results. In contrast, during 2020 only 6,500 tests were performed and 566 breast tumors were found: 8.7%. Given that the percentage of positives is very similar, it can be concluded that during 2020, due to the fact that many fewer mammograms were performed, about 600 women who had a breast tumor ‘escaped’ and could have
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