Global Impact of COVID-19 on Colorectal Cancer Screening: Current Insights and Future Directions
Jonathan Kopel, Bojana Ristić, Gregory L. Brower, Hemant Goyal
Abstract
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has brought significant challenges to many aspects of healthcare delivery since the first reported case in early December 2019. Once in the body, SARS-CoV-2 can spread to other digestive organs, such as the liver, because of the presence of ACE2 receptors. Colorectal cancer (CRC) remains the second-leading cause of death in the United States (US). Therefore, individuals are routinely screened using either endoscopic methods (i.e., flexible sigmoidoscopy and colonoscopy) or stool-based tests, as per the published guidelines. At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) recommended that all non-urgent surgical and medical procedures, including screening colonoscopies, be delayed until the pandemic stabilization. This article aims to review the impact of COVID-19 on CRC screening.