The Impact of COVID-19 on Endoscopy and Cancer Screening: a Focus on Access and Equity

Overview

Journal Therap Adv Gastroenterol

Publisher Sage Publications

Specialty Gastroenterology

Date 2023 May 14

PMID 37180362

Authors

Julianna G Gardner

Lauren D Feld

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

The SARS-CoV2 pandemic has had a profound and lasting impact on healthcare delivery. Gastrointestinal endoscopy services were limited during the early phases of the pandemic, which has resulted in ongoing procedural backlog. Procedural delays have had continuing effects including delayed colorectal cancer (CRC) diagnoses and exacerbation of existing disparities in the CRC-screening and treatment pathways. In this review, we outline these effects as well as the variety of strategies that have been proposed to eliminate this backlog, including increased endoscopy hours, re-triaging of referrals, and alternative CRC-screening strategies.

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