10,000 people expected to lose their lives after skipping cancer screenings during pandemic

HOUSTON - During the pandemic, many of us have wanted to stay home as much as possible to avoid germs, but local doctors want to encourage you to remember your cancer screenings.

We spoke with an expert at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, who says your life could truly depend on it.

"We are very concerned that people are postponing care, and in our case here at MD Anderson specifically, that they're postponing getting their screening, and that's going to result in delays in diagnosis and more advanced stage cancers that are not as easy to treat as an early stage cancer,” says Dr. Therese Bevers, Medical Director of MD Anderson’s Cancer Prevention Center. “Certainly, we have seen it with mammography, the annual mammograms are pushing it out to 18 months or maybe even two years. They were maybe due earlier this year or late 2019, but then rescheduled and then got rescheduled because of COVID-19."

“There was a study published out of the NCI that showed that with breast and colon cancers alone, they project more than 10,000 additional deaths for those two cancers, over the next decade, most of which would be in the next two to three years. And that's because of the late diagnosis,” Dr. Bevers says.

She says getting screened on time can make a difference.

“We know that women are less likely to die of breast cancer if they get an annual mammogram than if they get it, every other year. We are already seeing a decline in the diagnoses of newly diagnosed breast cancers. It's not that women aren't developing breast cancers, they're not being diagnosed and screenings are readily available,” Dr. Bevers says.

Dr. Bevers says they are continuing to do cancer screenings in a safe way during the pandemic.

“We are doing cancer screenings, including mammography and colonoscopies. And we're doing it in a safe way so that individuals can feel comfortable, feel safe, coming into MD Anderson to get their cancer screenings,” Dr. Bevers says.

“If they have concerns, be sure to reach out to their provider or to the imaging facility get a comfort level with what they're doing to make sure that it is a safe environment, but get your cancer screening," encourages Dr. Bevers.

Doctors at MD Anderson say it’s important to pay attention to changes in your body. Common symptoms that could indicate cancer could be a mass or lump, unexplained weight loss, pain, change in bowel or bladder habits, a sore that doesn’t heal, a persistent cough, or unusual bleeding or discharge. Contact your doctor immediately and try to keep up with your annual screenings. Doctor’s offices are doing everything they can to help keep you safe.

For more information on prevention and screenings, click here.

For information on how MD Anderson is protecting patients during the pandemic, click here.