Dr. Pat Basu

Along with the disruption of treatment for patients with cancer as a result of COVID-19 comes fear and uncertainty over the next steps and what the landscape of cancer care will look like moving forward, but it’s important to remind patients they aren’t alone, according to Dr. Pat Basu.

 Basu, president and CEO of Cancer Treatment Centers of America, discussed how he would address the fear and uncertainty patients are facing and reminds them that they aren’t alone.

First of all, I would say that my heart goes out to all (patients with cancer). I've spoken to dozens, if not hundreds of patients, over the last several months, and yet, there's a lot of uncertainty out there.

There's a lot of miscommunication and number one, I would tell them you don't need to face these decisions alone. Call your provider, call me you know, I I love doing what I do and so much about cancer care is treating the body but it's also virtually holding somebody's hand. In a virtual environment we're not doing that but it's just being an empathetic listener to say let's think about this.

Number two, everything in life, and particularly in medicine, has a cost benefit ratio. And there is a very scientific very medical way of approaching the situation, here are the risks on the left hand of not, you know, not treating or diagnosing your disease and here are the risks on the right hand of, you know the COVID-19 pandemic.

And if the risks of not trading cancer outweigh the likelihood of what might happen with COVID then that means we need to treat the cancer now. It doesn't mean you just frivolously ignore COVID, it means that you maintain proper protections that we you know, we ensure that you are masked that you are socially distance that you are screen that you are tested. That you were in entering an environment where you are confident that everybody has had that done, where you're not mixing with other COVID-19 patients.

So, there are ways now where it is much better off than it would have been in the earliest weeks of March, where you know, we feel extremely confident that you can get lifesaving cancer care even while we see spikes around the country with COVID-19.

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“There's a lot of miscommunication and number one, I would tell them you don't need to face these decisions alone,” Dr. Pat Basu said in an interview addressing patient’s fear in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.
 

Expert Addresses Fear and Uncertainty Patients with Cancer Feel from COVID-19 Disruptions

By disrupting the screening and treatment schedules of millions of Americans, the COVID-19 pandemic has created what one expert refers to as a ‘shadow curve’ of medical conditions such as cancer that are on the rise in the background while the virus takes center stage.

, recently spoke with Dr. Pat Basu, president and CEO of Cancer Treatment Centers of America, about what this phenomenon is and how it could impact patients in the coming months and years. 

: First off, can you explain what you refer to in your op-ed as the ‘shadow curve’?

 Sure. So, the shadow curve, for me, really is a phrase that captures the idea that, with COVID, we've been talking about flattening the COVID curve, which is perfectly appropriate, as COVID is obviously a very serious infectious disease. But in the background, a shadow curve has been rising. And to me, that is all the diseases that are being disrupted and not treated while we've disrupted the American health care system.

So, cancer is certainly at the top of the list, but (also) heart disease, neurologic issues (etc.). You can imagine that, with hundreds of thousands or millions of those types of cases, it's almost like a tidal wave that's kind of building in the background. And so that's what I refer to as the shadow curve, all of the other medical conditions outside of COVID that are deadly and that are rising in the background.

In speaking with some other doctors, we've been told that these rescheduled appointments have already become overwhelming to the system. What will happen if this continues for the long term?

In the long term, my personal goal is to prevent a study being written in the year 2023 where we look back and say, in 2020, we missed 500,000 cancers, and half a million other heart conditions and other things that have led to increased debt and increased worsening of quality of life and worse mortality and morbidity in the future. And to me, that could occur in a few ways:

Number one, the direct lack of screenings and diagnoses. It's been estimated already that potentially over 100,000 cancer cases have been missed, just from the direct aspect of missed screenings. But our American health care system, as you know, is so fragmented as it is. Think about the average patient who had a doctor's appointment scheduled in April or had a mammogram scheduled in May. In a perfect world, you would say, on June 1, or on July 1, come back and get that done. Unfortunately, we know that our American health care system is horrible at continuity of care. And so, what ends up happening is the doctor's office ends up looking at that patient's record and saying, “Oh, well, you know what, they missed their mammogram last year, they're 2021.” And so, these things are going to get pushed out further and further.

And then finally, of course, patients are disrupted with their lifestyle, or they don't want to go in. So, for direct screenings, for indirect diagnosis of disease, and just for general disruption due to patient preference or physician preference, we're sadly missing a lot of diagnoses and the resulting therapy will be unfortunately in a worse position.

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the cancer landscape has lead to enormous challenges for patients and professionals alike, but the impact of the pandemic will be felt on cancer care for years to come. 

Dr. Pat Basu

Expert Addresses Fear and Uncertainty Patients with Cancer Feel from COVID-19 Disruptions

How COVID-19 Has Created a 'Shadow Curve' in the Treatment of Cancer and Other Diseases

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