8.22.2024 Endoscopic Activity, Cancer Detection in Gastric Cancer Slow to Recover After COVID-19

Endoscopy activity and cancer detection was slower to recover in gastric cancers, such as colorectal cancer (CRC), after the COVID-19 pandemic, with cancer detection slower than endoscopy activity to recover, according to a study published in Heliyon.1 Maintaining cancer services in future waves of the pandemic should be the focus in the future.

Gastrointestinal diseases, including CRC, can be diagnosed by using digestive endoscopy but patients diagnosed with COVID-19 increased the number of patients in the hospital and stretched resources. With COVID-19 a significant risk to patients receiving an endoscopy, many endoscopies were suspended or canceled during the pandemic.2 Although endoscopies resumed, the effect of endoscopy uptake after the pandemic is unknown. This study aimed to assess how endoscopy activity and cancer detection recovered after the pandemic and estimate how many cancer patients were missed.