COVID-19 Pandemic Left an Enduring Imprint on Colorectal Cancer Surgery 

While the COVID-19 pandemic is no longer considered a public health emergency, pandemic-related stressors continue to impact cancer care across the board. New research published in the Journal of the American College of Surgeons describes how surgery for colorectal cancer—the third most commonly diagnosed cancer—was considerably disrupted during the pandemic.  

In a large-scale retrospective analysis of 105,517 colorectal cancer cases, researchers noted a 17.3% overall decline in colorectal cancer surgeries in 2020 compared to 2019. There was also a notable shift toward more advanced disease in the same period, with researchers finding that patients who underwent surgery in 2020 were more likely to have advanced stages of colorectal cancer, which is harder to treat and cure.