It's pretty shocking how many prostate cancers went missing during COVID, especially in Melbourne which experienced the most prolonged lockdown in the world. The data is still being cleaned but it is estimated that up to 3000 men who would have been expected to be diagnosed with prostate cancer over the past 2.5 years, have not yet been diagnosed.
It is prostate cancer awareness month in Australia, so a good time to chat with some experts to better understand the issue of the missing cancers. Plus we hear of some worrying examples.
Declan and Renu are joined by Alan White, well known patient advocate, Anne Savage, Chief Executive Director of the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia, and Professor Grant McArthur, Chair of the Victorian COVID Cancer Network, whose group have been looking at this data in real-time since the start of COVID. Grant is also a prostate cancer survivor himself.
Also posted on Youtube
Links:
PCFA
The Prostate Zone
Peter Mac story on missing diagnoses
VCCC Alliance