Skip to main content

Decline Seen in Patients Undergoing Surgery for Colon, Rectal Cancer in 2020

Medically reviewed by Carmen Pope, BPharm. Last updated on April 11, 2024.

By Elana Gotkine HealthDay Reporter

THURSDAY, April 11, 2024 -- There was a 17.3 percent decrease in the number of patients undergoing surgery for colon and rectal cancer in the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a study published online March 25 in the Journal of the American College of Surgeons.

Davide Ferrari, M.D., from the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, and colleagues used data from the National Cancer Database to examine the repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic on surgical interventions for colorectal cancer in the United States. Data were included for 105,517 adults who underwent surgical procedures for colon and rectal cancer in 2019 and 2020.

The researchers found a 17.3 percent reduction in surgical cases during the first year of the pandemic. More advanced clinical and pathological tumor stages were seen for patients who underwent surgery in 2020 versus those who underwent surgery in 2019. No delay was reported in treatment after diagnosis. Among patients who underwent surgery during the pandemic, worse-stage colon and rectal cancer was seen among African American patients, uninsured patients, and Medicaid beneficiaries; individuals with lower incomes bore the burden of advanced colon cancer.

"The pandemic caught us unprepared, and while social distancing measures helped reduce the immediate impact of the pandemic, they may also have caused unintended consequences, leading to increased mortality in the long term for other causes," the authors write.

One author disclosed ties to Becton Dickinson and Tsumura.

Abstract/Full Text

Disclaimer: Statistical data in medical articles provide general trends and do not pertain to individuals. Individual factors can vary greatly. Always seek personalized medical advice for individual healthcare decisions.

© 2024 HealthDay. All rights reserved.

Posted April 2024

Further Support and Information on COVID-19

Read this next

Perioperative Chemo Improves Progression-Free Survival in Pancreatic Cancer

TUESDAY, July 2, 2024 -- For patients with resectable pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), the 12-month progression-free survival (PFS) may be increased with neoadjuvant...

Few Patients With Positive Margins After Basal Cell Excision Have Recurrence

MONDAY, July 1, 2024 -- Among patients with incompletely excised basal cell carcinoma (BCC), only about 16 percent with positive histopathologic margins have clinical recurrence...

NCCN: Cancer Drug Shortages Remain a Challenge for Clinicians

FRIDAY, June 28, 2024 -- Almost 90 percent of medical centers report cancer drug shortages, which often impact clinical trials, according to the results of a National...

More news resources

Subscribe to our newsletter

Whatever your topic of interest, subscribe to our newsletters to get the best of Drugs.com in your inbox.