The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has resulted in people delaying or canceling their annual breast cancer screenings, said Deborah Toppmeyer, chief medical officer of the Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey (CINJ) and director of the Stacy Goldstein Breast Cancer Center.
Toppmeyer discussed why it is important for patients to still get their screenings and what measures are being taken to keep screenings safe.
“Screenings dropped almost 90 percent through May of 2020, and people are still reluctant to resume cancer screening,” she said. “I think there’s still a lot of concern about (COVID-19), despite the fact that radiology suites are doing an outstanding job (at maintaining safety).”
Toppmeyer said the CINJ is routinely cleaning highly touched surfaces, maintaining social distancing, requiring the use of masks at all times, limiting visitors, screening staff and patients on a daily basis and offering COVID-19 tests to those who are receiving treatments.
“We’re really trying to maintain the safety of the patients to make sure that they are comfortable and reassured that we have these policies and procedures in place so that they (aren’t) reluctant to come in for our treatments,” she said. [Read more…]