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Found late
Simas de Vilnius (name changed – aut.) He was 48 months old. However, the celebration was not fun: He was diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer with bone metastases before his birthday. For the second month in a row, she is receiving treatment at the National Cancer Institute (NCI).
Simas says the first back pain struck last Christmas, reappeared in February and began to intensify. In June, the well-being worsened: the annoying pain even extended to the leg. Then the man went to the family doctor, who consulted him by phone, who asked him who prescribed the painkillers. But the drugs didn’t help. Then they sent him to take an X-ray, but this didn’t show anything too bad either. Then the doctor referred him to a neurologist. He prescribed a CT scan.
“I went to do it and they tell me that I have to pay because the doctor did not fill out the documents correctly. I came back to arrange shipping and had to re-register to take the survey again. I spoke with the family doctor on the phone. And time passed, ”says Simas.
Fotolia nuotr./Vėžys
The specialist who performed the CT examination wrote in the conclusion that Simui has a spinal hernia and there is a suspicion that there may be MTS. The neurologist consulted by the man spoke only about the spine, who did not mention the MTS, only advised to see a family doctor. Simas went back to the doctor for a remote consultation, but the doctor did not call at the scheduled time.
Unable to bear ignorance, Simas comforted her cousin’s doctors. After reviewing the man’s disease data and viewing the MTS record, he urged Sima to see his outpatient clinic as soon as possible and ordered a prostate specific antigen (PSA) test. She was alarmed by a colleague’s suspicion that Sima might be suffering from metastasis: advanced cancer (MTS for short).
When the PSA test result was obtained, Simas had to go to the National Cancer Institute as soon as possible. It was the end of July. Oncologists performed a prostate biopsy. She showed that the man has stage IV aggressive prostate cancer that has spread to the bones and surrounding organs. For the 48-year-old man, who has a wife and a 10-year-old daughter, it was a painful blow.
Sim received cancer treatment with hormone therapy and then early chemotherapy. Recently, such treatment has been shown to prolong life.
“I have been living my life for the last month, everything has been turned upside down. But the most important thing is not to give up. I believe in medicine and I would recommend to all men that they get regular check-ups,” says Simas, jokingly, “When I told my childhood friend what had happened to me, he immediately went for a PSA test.”
More and more careless cases
“Men should see a doctor as soon as possible if they have back pain, if they have difficulty urinating. These symptoms indicate neglected cancer,” says Dr. Ontourology, director of the National Cancer Institute (IMI) Albert Ulys.
According to the doctor, some men can develop prostate cancer for years without causing more pronounced symptoms, but others, like Simas, develop aggressive cancer that spreads very quickly. “Virus or not, these people cannot wait,” said the specialist.
IMI oncologists have reviewed the data from the last few years and found an unpleasant trend: since 2012. Every year around 100 cases of stage IV prostate cancer are diagnosed in the country. “Most of the patients had stage 2 cancer, less often stage III, and the fourth was a rarity,” says A. Ulys.
Doctors in the capital have been silent when up to 10 men have been diagnosed with stage IV cancer in the past five weeks. These men approached doctors because they had metastasized, causing complications that the person could not undergo.
“I don’t know how many patients with advanced cancer have been admitted to other hospitals,” says Dr. A. Ulys, adding that aggressive cancer spreads in 4-6 months and specialists can only prolong their lives by treating them with complex and very expensive. and not a cure.
One month of neglected cancer treatment costs about the same as all early stage cancer treatment.
“One month of neglected cancer treatment costs about the same as all cancer treatment in the first stage. And it is not even possible to compare the results, explains the doctor. – I noticed that now we mainly perform surgeries on those patients who have had us contacted before. Few new, which means it is difficult for people to reach specialists. The rise of viral infections can continue throughout the year, perhaps throughout life, so we can not stop taking medications ” .
Decreased three times
Prostate cancer is one of the most common cancer diseases in men in the world and one of the leading causes of cancer death in men. In Lithuania, around 2,500 men get prostate cancer each year and between 500 and 600 die.
For the early detection of this disease, our country has a program for the early diagnosis of prostate cancer for men between 50 and 70 years of age. and men aged 45 and over if their parents or siblings had prostate cancer. They may have regular blood tests to check the levels of prostate specific antigen (PSA) in their blood. If the PSA level exceeds the norm, the family doctor will issue a referral to a urologist, who will perform a certain examination, a prostate biopsy if necessary.
“It is clear that stopping prevention programs during quarantine will have consequences. Also, some patients took longer to reach oncologists due to limited primary care services. Today we are calculating the scope of diagnostic tests and trying to compare with the first half of last year The volume of diagnostic prostate biopsies under the early prostate cancer program decreased by 50 percent.
Photo by E.Paukste / Prof. S.Jarmalaitė
The number of patients in the early prostate cancer diagnosis program who were referred for additional consultations by a specialist fell 3 times, and not in the program, those who had already developed symptoms: 50 percent. Given that the incidence of prostate cancer is not declining and the scope of diagnostic testing has dropped dramatically in the past six months, we expect an increase in the number of neglected cases. After all, a good prognosis in cancer treatment is only possible if the disease is caught early, ”says Professor Sonata Jarmalaitė, Acting Director of the National Cancer Institute.
Although the situation of the health system in Lithuania during the quarantine was very complicated and the activities of many medical institutions were limited, the National Cancer Institute worked full time. During the quarantine, doctors reorganized their work, distributed and restricted patient flows, and learned to work taking care of themselves and protecting their patients from COVID-19.
According to the director of the institution, patients now enter the IMI through quarantine posts, at a specified time, wearing protective masks and are hospitalized after a negative test for COVID-19.
“We are used to working in this mode dictated by quarantine rules and we successfully provide the full range of health services, reaching 70-80%. Conventional volumes. During the three months of quarantine alone, IMI continued or started chemotherapy and radiotherapy courses, and 700 patients underwent cancer, ”says S. Jarmalaitė, adding that oncologists are still looking forward to the fall, when the incidence of infectious diseases is increasing, and the new virus is not yet receding.
“I would like to remind you that infectious respiratory diseases are a constant part of the population and are not as deadly and difficult to treat as cancer. I think it is worth refining priorities and paying more attention to patients with oncology, heart and other chronic diseases. It is necessary to create the conditions for the safe provision of services and not restrict the opportunities for patients to start treatment on time ”, says prof. S.Jarmalaitė.
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