The Victorian Cancer Registry recorded more than 6000 fewer cancers than expected between April 2020 and April 2022, when the state endured several Covid waves and six lockdowns. Concerningly, the drop in diagnoses continued into this year, months after stay-at-home restrictions – which led to a drop in, or in some cases bans, on screening services – had ended. Two-thirds of the missed diagnoses are in men while more than 60 per cent are in Victorians aged 50 to 74-years-old. Cancer Council Victoria head of strategy Danielle Spence said delayed diagnoses increase the risk of death and intensive treatment. “(Patients) might be much later in their progression, and that means more treatment, more complex cancer care,” she said. “That’s going to make it harder on the system, because we already know that hospitals are pretty smashed.” She said she was “absolutely concerned” the numbers won’t return to pre-Covid levels for some time. “The continuing cancer decline that we reported back in 2020, has continued,” she said. “People aren’t necessarily getting back into the same behaviours as they did pre-pandemic. “They may not be having those physical checks (and) … in particular we’re worried about men.” Victorian Cancer Registry director Professor Sue Evans said – aside from a brief uptick in January 2021 – the diagnosis rate hadn’t improved when lockdowns ended. “We would have expected to see recovery, or at least signs of recovery, by now,” she said.“We really should be pushing them (men) to get their health checked.”She said prostate cancer – the top missed diagnosis – and melanomas account for about two-thirds of the undetected cases, but people still have time to save their life as they often grow slower. She told the Herald Sun blood, and neck and head cancers have also seen a drop, pointing to the latter as an “unexpected” consequence of delayed dental check-ups. “(Head and neck cancer) are often detected through people going to see their dentist,” she said. “The disruption to dental services has likely played a role.”She said Victoria has the world’s most up-to-date cancer registry and calculates missed diagnosis by comparing the number of notifications from laboratories to previous years. These have dropped by almost 15,000 in the two years since April 2020, which equates to about 6000 people based on statistical modelling that factors in the number of laboratory alerts per cancers. They will know the pandemic’s exact toll on cancer diagnoses by the year’s end. Ms Spence said it was time to “get back out there” and attend screenings and check-ups. “It’s really important to be familiar with your body,” she said “If you know your body and notice a change, get checked.” Doctor’s check-up ‘saved my life’Every day Geoff Lewellin gets to spend with his family is another day of memories he came close to missing out on. The Yarra Junction dad would not be here today if he hadn’t visited his general practitioner in late 2018 after noticing he was having trouble swallowing. After some tests, he was diagnosed with stage three esophageal cancer at 48-years-old. He said he quickly began treatment, a tough combination of radiation and chemotherapy, before undergoing surgery to remove his oesophagus and 75 per cent of his stomach. “It was certainly, one of the hardest things I’ve been through,” he said. “It was fairly scary because it was a big surgery.”His story is both a reminder of the risks of downplaying poor health — he later learned reflux he had had for decades caused his cancer — but also what is to gain from listening to your body. “It’s always gone through my head that if I had of had a gastroscopy earlier, maybe they would have picked it up a lot earlier,” he said. “The treatment might have been completely different.”His cancer had a 30 per cent survival rate, yet just six days after his surgery, doctors walked into his room and said he was cancer free. “I broke down, I was in tears,” he said. Three and a half years later he is in remission, and while he suffers some side effects from the surgery, every moment he has with wife Jeanette, sons Jesse and Tyler, and their new dog, Saturn, is one he may never have had. “I’m very thankful for once listening to my body,” he said. “(Doctors) have told me numerous times, that that’s what saved my life.”Jeanette said it means the world to know her sons, who were 20 and 14 at the time of Geoff’s diagnosis, still have their dad. “I grew up without a dad,” she said. “To have our boys, with that on the horizon, was very scary.“I’m just so grateful.”
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