Double the Cancer

When the statistics are released in the next few years, those of us practicing oncology will not be shocked to see that the incidence of cancer will probably take a dip in 2020. Inevitably, some online news article may tout the anti-cancer properties of the SARS CoV-2-virus causing questions that my colleagues and I will have to dispel in our clinics. Conversely, when the numbers are reported for 2021, there will be a sharp increase in cancer incidence numbers. Again, this will create the buzz that perhaps the COVID 19 vaccine causes cancer. All of this will be false.

Through this entire pandemic, cancer kept growing. It kept developing. However, with all the shut downs, with most clinics offering virtual appointments, and with routine cancer screening exams such as colonoscopies and mammograms being put on hold, those cancers that would have been detected on a screening exam due in 2020 hid and grew undetected. Now that these procedures are once again being performed, my colleagues and I are seeing the result, for sure. Our tumor boards are running overtime, and our clinics are full.

So if you're reading this and you're due for a screening, it might be time to put aside anxiety and just get it done.

Thanks for reading.

Dr. G