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Because of the corona pandemic: Some patients came too late to the cancer center - significantly more palliative cases

2020-10-27T10:35:58.624Z


The corona pandemic ensured that some cancer patients with advanced tumor diseases presented to the Amper-Klinikum Dachau.


The corona pandemic ensured that some cancer patients with advanced tumor diseases presented to the Amper-Klinikum Dachau.

  • Some cancer patients presented to the Amper Clinic in Dachau in the summer.

  • Several of the tumors were already advanced.

  • Apparently the corona pandemic delayed the correct diagnosis.

Dachau -

The

German Cancer Society

has

certified

five

specialist centers at

the

Amper Clinic

, thus confirming the high quality of

diagnosis

and

therapy

- and that after an examination in the middle of the

pandemic.

The clinic announced.

Two sentences in the letter are very sad: “Unfortunately, we had to find out that through the entire summer months we were mainly

presented

with

patients

with advanced

tumor diseases

.

It must be assumed here that the

pandemic

to a

delay

of

correct diagnosis

. ”The words are from Professor Dr.

Axel Kleespies,

chief physician

for general, visceral, thoracic and

oncological surgery

at the Amper Clinic.

In a conversation with the Dachauer Nachrichten, Kleespies, who is considered an outstanding expert in the fight against

cancer

,

becomes

clearer.

Professor Kleespies, in the press release you mention that primarily patients with advanced tumor diseases have come to you.

Can you give us any figures?

To do this, we have to

record

the so-called

“primary cases” of

a center.

Primary cases are those

cancers

that were diagnosed for the first time,

i.e.

newly diagnosed, at a center within a specified period of time.

For example, if we look at the patients at the Dachau Colorectal Cancer Center, we see that we

treated

50 patients with newly

diagnosed

colorectal cancer from

January to October of this year

.

Of these, eight patients (16 percent) showed an expansion of the

tumor disease

, which is considered no longer curable and is

treated

palliatively

.

In the same period last year (January to October 2019), we treated 55 patients with newly diagnosed colon cancer.

Of these, only three (5.4 percent) showed a

palliative tumor stage.

As a restriction, it must be added that these are low numbers that cannot be statistically reliably assessed.

Nevertheless, they at least underpin our perception of an increase in patients with advanced

tumor disease.

What kind of tumors are in general?

In addition to

colon cancer

we have made similar observations in

pancreatic cancer

and gynecological

tumors

, i.e. tumors of the female abdomen.

What were the reasons why the patients only came to the hospital over the summer months?

You can only make assumptions about this.

Patients

only come to

our

cancer center

or one of our organ centers

in

emergencies

.

As a rule, the first patient contact takes place with the family doctor or resident specialist, for example with an internist, endoscopist or gynecologist, for

routine examinations

, for

preventive care

or in the event of complaints.

Patients who are suspected of having a

tumor

are referred to our

cancer center

by the respective practices

.

We have to assume that at the beginning of the pandemic in spring to early summer, patients did not attend or had to postpone outpatient doctor appointments.

The uncertainty about the risk of a

doctor or clinic visit

played a not insignificant role at this point in time.

In this context, do you blame politicians like Angela Merkel, Markus Söder or Karl Lauterbach who have been scared people with their statements for months?

This is not about pointing the blame.

Avoiding fear reactions in the population is very difficult when the daily reporting from neighboring European countries shows

health systems

at their

limits

.

According to my very personal perception, all people working in health care and politics have tried over the past few months to

correctly assess

the

risk

situation

again and again

, to protect society with its healthy and sick individuals,

to avoid panic

and yet no more

avert a

manageable

infection situation

in German hospitals and medical practices.

The whole pandemic is a learning process.

At the beginning of the pandemic, the Helios Amper Clinic said that all necessary precautionary and protective measures had been taken and that cancer therapies would not be delayed due to Corona.

How is the current situation here?

Patients with

cancer

have been

diagnosed and treated comprehensively and without delay

in our center throughout the entire period of the

pandemic to

date

.

Cancer patients

were

decidedly excluded

from the politically decreed "postponement of planned

operations

" in our clinic.

That will also be the case in the future.

Thanks to the rapid implementation of comprehensive

hygiene measures

for staff and patients and the parallel implementation of digital sessions for necessary

tumor conferences

, all of the

cancer center's

important processes could be

maintained.

The German Society for Hematology and Medical Oncology (DGHO) already pointed out in May that “the fear of Covid-19 must not lead to early detection or the implementation of effective therapies being delayed.

The harm to patients would be immense ”.

Would you agree with that?

Yes, other specialist societies have also pointed this out, and we too feared a second

“cancer wave”

early on

due to the delay in

cancer diagnoses

.

We therefore

sought a

dialogue with the board of the

German Cancer Society (DKG)

very early on

and, together with the Dachau District Office and other political mandate holders, ensured that

cancer therapy was fully available at the Dachau site

despite the difficult conditions at the height of the

pandemic

and is.

Cancer award for the Helios Amper-Klinikum Dachau 

The

German Cancer Society

has

certified

the breast, bowel and pancreas center as well as the head and neck tumor center and the cancer center at the

Helios Amper-Klinikum Dachau

, thereby confirming the

high quality

of diagnosis and therapy.

"It proves that we

offer

cancer patients

in our clinic the highest standards and perfect framework conditions for successful treatment," says clinic manager Florian Aschbrenner.

And Professor Dr.

Axel Kleespies, Chief Physician of General, Visceral, Thoracic and Oncological Surgery at the Dachau Hospital confirms: “This certification not only confirms our

professional qualifications

- it is above all the result of the excellent cooperation between our doctors, nurses, therapists and psychologists.

Smooth processes can only be guaranteed with a well-rehearsed team. "The perfect interaction was shown in the

high phase of the pandemic and lockdown

:" We were able to adapt our well-established diagnostic, decision-making and control processes to the new situation at high speed.

Not a single tumor conference had to be adjourned or postponed, ”said Kleespies.

The coronavirus pandemic never ends and new consequences are becoming known.

When it comes to diagnosing other diseases such as cancer, doctors warn of fatal effects.

British researchers are now expecting thousands of cancer deaths due to the corona measures.

In Germany, the situation could worsen.

Source: merkur

All news articles on 2020-10-27

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