Pandemic impact expected to set cancer treatment back 'five to 10 years'

Breakthrough Cancer Research chief executive Orla Dolan, Prof Seamus O’Reilly, Dr Tracey O'Donovan, and Dr Sharon McKenna in the Western Gateway Building, UCC. Picture: Darragh Kane

The pandemic’s catastrophic impact on cancer treatment is expected to last five to ten years, Breakthrough Cancer Research has warned.

Delayed diagnoses and the reduced capacity of hospitals has meant many cancer patients did not receive the treatment that was available before Covid-19 struck. 

While many of these services and clinical trials are now back to operational capacity in Irish hospitals, the impact of the pandemic will continue to be felt for years to come, according to Orla Dolan, chief executive of charity Breakthrough Cancer Research (BCR).

“There is going to be a wave we will feel for another five years, for five to ten years there is going to be a tail for cancer patients,” she said.

People could not get certain types of screening, people did not want to go to their GPs — there are all these reasons.” 

People continue to delay going for treatment, and this can impact their options, she said.

Cancer trials are largely back on track, she said, but Covid disruptions, especially during 2020, meant patients could not sign up for trials, and some experiments were “thrown in the bin”.

Marking World Cancer Day, the World Health Organisation said the pandemic had a “catastrophic impact” on cancer care.

Dr Tracey O'Donovan and Dr Sharon McKenna working in the Western Gateway Building, UCC. Picture: Darragh Kane

Up to 50% of screening or treatment continues to be disrupted in some areas, according to Europe regional director Dr Hans Kluge.

“The way in which the pandemic delays cancer care and creates service backlogs is a deadly interplay,” he said.

As we go forward, maintenance of essential health services, including services along the continuum of cancer care from prevention, early detection, diagnosis, treatment, and palliative care must be a component of emergency planning and response.” 

Some research did continue, however, in Irish laboratories and there is renewed hope around treatments for gastrointestinal cancers following a breakthrough by a team in Cork University Hospital and University College Cork.

A team in Cork has found, for the first time, combining chemotherapy with lithium could benefit some patients who did not respond to chemotherapy alone. 

Almost 1,750 people die annually here from gastrointestinal cancers. 

This research, backed by BCR with over €1m and led by Dr Sharon McKenna, found lithium prevents cancer cells from repairing the damage done by chemotherapy. 

“We tested this new Chemo-Lithium combination in several pre-clinical models and found that tumours were being cleared much more effectively than single-agent treatments,” said researcher Dr Tracy O’Donovan.

We were so thrilled to find a combination that could potentially make an impact on the effectiveness of treatment and improve survival.” 

Patients with oesophagogastric or colorectal cancers are already enrolled on Phase 1 trials at CUH, led by oncologist Seamus O’Reilly.

“Many new cancer drug treatments are expensive limiting their impact as societies and patients struggle to afford them. Lithium is cheap, widely available, and as a result this study if positive, could be globally accessible,” Professor O’Reilly said.

For more information on enrolling in the CUH trials, click here.