Cancer treatment outcomes have remained stable in recent years, a “very positive” report has concluded.
During lockdown, there were fears that treatment and diagnosis delays would lead to sharp reductions in survival rates for cancer patients.
Now it seems his fears were misplaced; the National Cancer Registry of Ireland has concluded there is, “No evidence of lasting impact on early cancer survival or mortality due to early diagnostic delays in 2020”.
While there was indeed a sharp drop in cancer diagnoses in early 2020, it found the health service reacted quickly and adapted to the reality of life in a pandemic.
On Newstalk Breakfast, National Cancer Registry Director Deirdre Murray said the report was “encouraging”.
“We do remember the fears about patients being delayed and their cancers having progressed once they were diagnosed,” she recalled.
“And in fact, indeed, patients' treatments being disrupted because of the amount of cancer, the amount of COVID happening in the hospitals and their outcomes also being impacted.
“So, our report today has shown that the cancer data states this did not happen.”
Professor Murray continued that the positive trend is evident in patients at different stages of treatment for cancer.
“There was no consistent increase in late stage cancer diagnosis in patients that were diagnosed in 2020, 2021 or, indeed, 2022,” she said.
“Early survival; we looked at one year survival across a range of cancers for patients diagnosed in 2020 and 2021 - and they remain stable.
“And we also looked at all of the cancer deaths throughout the period and again, they were in line with what we would have expected for cancer trends in Ireland.”
As we come to the end of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Ciara Kelly gives a refresher on how to perform a breast self-exam, on The Anton Savage Show. pic.twitter.com/jE7wPJIS9r
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Professor Murray added that while the findings are a “little bit surprising”, health services in Scotland and the Netherlands have reached similar conclusions.
“There are also some cancers there that are good indicators of how services have held up,” she explained.
“So, for sensitive cancers like lung cancer, one year survival for that is internationally recognised as being a good indicator of cancers of lung cancer services.
“So, I suppose there are some beacons of hope there that with the reduction - or at least the no obvious increase in late stage diagnosis.
“And some of those like indicator cancer showing good signs at one year that our future reports will bode well.”
The National Cancer Registry of Ireland intends to continue monitoring data from cancer patients but does not expect new evidence to change its conclusions.
Main image: A patient receiving chemotherapy at the hospital. Picture by: Alamy.com.
