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Happy New Year! Now that the holiday season has passed, it’s time to look ahead. In doing so, however, it may be useful to take a look back.
This month, we’re looking at some of the downstream effects of COVID-19 as they relate to cancer patients. Much has been made of the overall shift in health care delivery since the pandemic began, but it’s especially important to consider vulnerable populations, such as cancer patients, who are dealing with additional medical issues. A couple of studies that were presented at RSNA 2021 highlighted how the pandemic has affected some of those patients.
What pandemic-related changes has your facility made, and how has care delivery been affected? Let us know on Twitter and/or Facebook.
— Dave Yeager, editor |
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COVID-19 Fallout May Lead to More Cancer Deaths
Significant decreases in CT imaging for cancer persisted even after the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, delaying diagnosis and treatment and raising the possibility of more advanced cancers and poorer outcomes for patients in the future, according to a study presented at RSNA 2021. Numerous studies have shown COVID-19’s severe impact on US health care, as the pandemic filled hospitals and reduced imaging capacity during its peak from March to early May 2020. Few studies, however, have explored the pandemic’s lingering effects on cancer imaging.
For the new study, researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston compared cancer-related CT exams during three periods of 2020: the pre-COVID phase (January to mid-March), peak COVID (mid-March to May), and the post-COVID peak (May to mid-November). They looked at CT volume and the type of care being delivered through imaging.
As expected, CT volumes dropped significantly during the COVID peak. CT for cancer screening fell 82%, while CT for initial workup, active cancer, and cancer surveillance also saw significant declines. Volumes for cancer screening and initial workup failed to recover in the post-COVID peak period, remaining down 11.7% and 20%, respectively, from their pre-COVID levels.
“The decline during the COVID peak was expected because of stay-at-home orders and the number of imaging departments that shut down as a precaution,” said study senior author Marc Succi, MD, an emergency radiologist at Massachusetts General Hospital and executive director of the MESH Incubator, an in-house innovation and entrepreneurship center. “Once normal operations resumed, you’d expect that these patients were being imaged in an equitable way, but, in fact, it turns out that they weren’t.”
Full story » |
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Web Exclusive: Intelligent Automation Aids Revenue Cycle Management
Adopting advanced technologies capable of boosting efficiency throughout the revenue cycle is something practices can no longer afford to delay. Read more »
On the Case
In our latest installment, Shwachman-Diamond syndrome is diagnosed and analyzed. Read more »
Out of This World
Given the health consequences associated with zero-gravity environments, a digital tech company is bringing cardiac ultrasound to the International Space Station. Read more »
Web Exclusive: Radiology’s Role in Crushing Cyberthreats
Stewardship of medical images involves an intricate balance between accessibility for authorized parties and safeguards against bad actors. Read more » |
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DoD Mulls Contracting Weather Data From Commercial Organizations
SpaceNews reports that, in an effort to optimize its scope of cloud coverage and theater weather imaging, the United States Department of Defense will be accepting bids from private entities capable of upgrading to next-level weather satellites. The clock is ticking, experts say, because key US military satellites are running out of fuel.
Photoacoustic Imaging Breakthrough Automates Placement of Diagnostic Needle
Johns Hopkins University researchers indicate that photoacoustic imaging, a modality that interprets pulsed light within body tissue, can harness AI to control the movement of a robotic arm. The method improves on existing photoacoustics while enabling unheard-of precision for catheter placement and other medical procedures, the researchers say.
‘We Can Tell Which Flower Was Visited by This Particular Sawfly’
In what is being hailed as a triumph of electron-microscope microphotography, researchers determined that rocks upon arid Australian tablelands conceal traces of the rainforests that covered the area 15 million years ago—in such detail that a specific strand of pollen can be identified upon a fossilized insect, reports Science Advances.
High-Res Satellites Further Study of Ancient Japanese Burial Customs
According to Remote Sensing, Italy’s Politecnico di Milano, using high-resolution satellite imaging, determined that Japan’s sacred Kofun-era burial tombs were oriented toward astrological phenomena. The sites, spanning the third and seventh centuries, offer a trove of insights about ancient beliefs and burial rituals, the researchers indicate. |
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“Going through cancer is hard. Finding out your cancer had a head start on you is bad. Knowing that someone's mistake is why it had a head start on you is painful. But the worst of all is finding out you can do nothing to hold them accountable. I am a victim of not just cancer, but of a statute of limitation law that was wrongfully shortened.”
— Cancer survivor Kristi Howard, regarding Missouri's two-year statute of limitations for medical malpractice, and the newly defunct St. Louis imaging clinic accused of providing her a faulty mammogram in 2017, as reported by KSDK |
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