PEOPLE with some of the deadliest forms of cancer are being diagnosed later than ever as a result of disruption to healthcare caused by the Covid pandemic, campaigners have warned.

Stomach, lung, pancreatic, brain, stomach and oesophageal cancers have some of the poorest long-term survival rates and have always been disproportionately diagnosed late following an emergency hospital admission.

However, campaigners are concerned that the poor prognoses for these patients have been exacerbated by factors such as a reluctance to attend A&E or bother GPs during the pandemic, and by bottlenecks in the numbers of patients waiting for tests such as CT scans or endoscopy.

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A drive to raise awareness of the symptoms for these cancers – which are not subject to any routine screening programmes – along with a push for more investment into research for treatments has been launched today to mark the first Less Survivable Cancers Awareness Day.

Dawn Crosby, head of Scotland and Northern Ireland for Pancreatic Cancer UK and a member of the Less Survivable Cancers Taskforce, said: “We know that delays in diagnosis lead to much poorer outcomes for patients with these rapidly-advancing cancers.

“We also know the trauma associated with receiving a diagnosis in an emergency setting for both patients and families.

“These cancers are currently difficult or impossible to treat at later stages and the time from diagnosis to death is often brutally short compared to more survivable cancers.

“The situation is critical and has been exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic. The Taskforce is calling for a significant increase in research funding, as well as a commitment to increasing resources for early diagnosis for less survivable cancers so we can close the deadly cancer gap.”

Dr Ruthra Coventry, a consultant anaesthetist at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary, said she had been “stunned” to be diagnosed with lung cancer in 2018, aged just 38. The medic had been suffering from a persistent cough and chest infections, but initially she put it down bugs picked up from having a child in nursery.

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However, after ending up in A&E with sharp chest pains and difficulty taking a deep breath – treated as a chest infection – Dr Coventry asked her GP to refer her for further tests.

She said: “I was only 38 and otherwise healthy. I was lucky that the cancer was caught early and it was successfully treated with surgery.

“If I hadn’t sought help when I did, my story would have been very different.”

Although smoking is the leading cause of lung cancer, more than one in four (28 per cent) of cases have no link to smoking.

A joint study by NHS Scotland and Macmillan Cancer Support found that 33% of lung cancer patients diagnosed in 2011 had attended A&E at least once in the 30 days prior to their diagnosis compared to 4% of breast cancer patients.

More than half of pancreatic and brain cancers, and a third of lung and stomach cancers, were diagnosed following emergency hospital admissions compared to just 2.7% of breast and 7.8% of prostate cancer cases.

Late diagnosis is a major factor behind poor five-year survival rates, which range from 7% for pancreatic cancer patients to 20% for stomach cancer, compared to 69% overall for other common cancers.

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Campaigners are keen to highlight “red flag” symptoms, such as vision and speech problems, headaches, vomiting and seizures for brain tumours; chest pain, shortness of breath, and coughing up blood in lung cancer; difficulty swallowing in oesophageal cancer; persistent indigestion and feeling full quickly in stomach cancer; unexpected weight loss and dark urine in liver cancer; and unexpected weight loss, yellowing of the skin, and changes in bowel habits in pancreatic cancer.

Health Secretary Humza Yousaf said Scotland’s Detect Cancer Early lung cancer campaign, launched in May, was helping to increase awareness of possible early signs of the disease, and that three new Early Cancer Diagnostic Centres had been established by NHS Scotland “for patients with non-specific symptoms suspicious of cancer”.