Home » Business » Coronavirus and cancer. Professor Cezary Szczylik: The tsunami phenomenon will arise. People with late-stage cancer will come to us after the pandemic

Coronavirus and cancer. Professor Cezary Szczylik: The tsunami phenomenon will arise. People with late-stage cancer will come to us after the pandemic

The number of fatalities in the pandemic in Poland will be a fraction of the casualties suffered by society as a result of reduced oncological vigilance, said professor Cezary Szczylik, head of the Oncology Clinic at the European Health Center in Otwock, in “Facts po Faktach” on TVN24. As he noted, “the pandemic situation caused the emergence of the tsunami phenomenon”. – A huge number of patients will come to us, with cancer diagnosed very late in the third and fourth stage of advancement. We will not be able to save these sick people – he added.

Only in the period from March to May, the number of Green Cards for Cancer Diagnostics and Treatment dropped by 25 percent. This does not mean that fewer Poles suffer from cancer. Patients are afraid of the coronavirus, so they prefer to wait for diagnosis and treatment.

“The number of deaths in the pandemic in Poland will be a fraction of the casualties that society will suffer”

Professor Cezary Szczylik, head of the Oncology Clinic at the European Health Center in Otwock, in “Facts after Facts” on TVN24 said that “the data from the Alivia Foundation show that these cards were issued much less, that it can hit even more than 40 percent”. – One has to imagine that the number of deaths in a pandemic in Poland will be a fraction of the victims that this society will suffer as a result of reducing oncological vigilance – he noted.

“160,000 have cancer, and over 70 percent are diagnosed with cancer too late”

In Poland, 160,000 suffer from cancer, of which the vast majority, i.e. over 70%, are people who are diagnosed with cancer too late – he explained. – Radical treatment is impossible. In our language of clinical oncology, radical treatment means that we are able to completely “operate” a tumor that is diagnosed at an early stage and thus give the patient complete recovery from this terrible disease. It may be radical surgical treatment, but it may be, for example, radical radiotherapy and until the introduction of DILO cards (oncological diagnostics and treatment – ed.) It looked like this – he said.

– The Minister of Health introduced these DILO cards. We immediately said that it was introduced without consulting us, without preparing people and equipment to accept such a huge burden, because apart from the fact that we have to diagnose and treat 160,000 new cases, we still have well over 200,000 patients living with cancer – he noticed.

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Szczylik: the number of fatalities in the pandemic in Poland will be a fraction of the victims that society will suffer as a result of reduced oncological vigilanceTVN24

Professor Szczylik noted that “the DILO card contains certain points that must be realized and if the DILO card has not been issued, the chance of early diagnosis of this cancer disappears”.

– GPs and general practitioners issue these cards many times more. These are the cases in which the GP suspects that the patient who came to see him or her may have cancer. We assume that out of ten cards issued by GPs, two patients will have cancer, he said.

– Two out of ten patients have cancer, but all ten must be examined, so there must be an adequate number of CT scanners, MRI scanners, ultrasound scanners, proper biopsies, and pathologists with appropriate levels of pathology laboratories to absorb the amount of data. Only in this way can we lead to the fact that cancer is diagnosed early and we will save thousands of lives – he explained.

“The pandemic situation triggered the tsunami phenomenon”

Meanwhile, he added, “the pandemic situation caused the emergence of the tsunami phenomenon, a huge destructive wave that will come to us after the pandemic.” – A huge number of patients with cancer diagnosed very late in the third and fourth stage of advancement will come to us. We will not be able to save these sick people, we will not be able to sacrifice their lives because the system cannot withstand it – emphasized professor Szczylik.

“Much of this society has been scared of the consequences of contracting COVID-19.”

He admitted that “he would be pleased if, as a result of what he said in front of the camera, the patients showed up at the clinics”. – Because I think a large part of this society has been scared by the consequences of contracting COVID-19. The fact that we were unprepared to receive this wave, that we have a poorly staffed Sanepid facilities, that there was not the right number of tests at the right time, there were not enough respirators, caused a natural fear – he said.

– This fear had a very negative impact on what was happening in other parallel disease entities – he added.

photo-source">Main photo source: TVN24

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