Physicians at Boston-based Dana-Farber Cancer Institute are witnessing the consequences of delayed cancer screenings, which are still down from pre-pandemic levels, Bloomberg reported April 11.
Boston's top cancer center is diagnosing more patients with later-stage cancers, according to Laurie Glimcher, MD, Dana-Farber's president and CEO.
"There was a decrease of about 90 percent of screening, whether it was pap smear, mammogram, colonoscopy," she told Bloomberg. "We're still not back up to the usual."
Dr. Glimcher's observations come nearly two months after a small study published in JAMA Network Open found late-stage breast and colorectal cancer diagnoses at University of California San Diego Health's Moores Cancer Center jumped in 2020.
Dr. Glimcher said Dana-Farber physicians are working to find ways to diagnose cancer at earlier stages, when many can still be cured.