World Cancer Day: Why Early Detection And Diagnosis Matter

On Feb. 4 every year, we observe World Cancer Day, a global initiative led by the Union for International Cancer Control. This year's theme is "Close the Care Gap," which aims to understand and recognize the inequities in cancer care around the globe.

While the key to cancer treatment often is early diagnosis, the outbreak of COVID-19 has pushed back several essential health services, cancer care being one of them. Reports claim routine cancer screenings have been interrupted even in developed countries in the wake of the pandemic.

This is a dangerous trend, according to experts. People who "missed" a diagnosis could have early-stage cancer, but it might not be identified until later on, potentially affecting their chances of survival, say medical journals.

So, here is why early diagnosis is still very significant to cancer treatment.

1) Better survival: According to the World Health Organization, early cancer diagnosis focuses on detecting symptomatic patients early, so they have the best chance for successful treatment. When cancer is diagnosed at an early stage when it isn't too large or hasn't spread widely, the patient has a better survival rate. Patients diagnosed with earlier stages of cancer (stage I-II) generally have a higher likelihood of recovery than those diagnosed at a later stage (stage III-IV). Bowel cancer, breast cancer, and lung cancer are some diseases that extend longevity if treated early.

2) Better care and life quality: It has been proved those who are diagnosed early have not only better survival rates but also better experiences of care, lower treatment morbidity and improved quality of life. As a patient goes through more extensive treatment as required by a later-stage diagnosis, his/her quality of life goes down, including through physical, emotional, and social functioning.

3) Cost-efficient: Cancer treatment is not cheap, unfortunately. Hence, early detection greatly reduces its financial impact on the patient. Not only is the cost of treatment much less in cancer’s early stages, but the patient can also continue to work and support their families. WHO studies say in high-income countries like the U.S., the treatment for cancer patients who have been diagnosed early is 2 to 4 times less expensive compared to treating people diagnosed with cancer at more advanced stages.