MEDICINE
WHEN THE APPROACH IS HIGHLY PROFESSIONAL Despite the spread of coronavirus infection, N. N. Alexandrov National Cancer Centre continues to treat patients with cancerous tumours. They now see patients from almost all over the country. How has the coronavirus affected the cancer service and should we expect a surge in new cancer cases when the pandemic is over? How are cancer patients coping with COVlD‑19? When will early detection programmes resume and who will be the first to be screened for stomach and lung cancer? About this and other issues we speak with the deputy director for scientific work at N. N. Alexandrov National Cancer Centre, Doctor of Medical Sciences, Professor, Corresponding Member of the National Academy of Sciences Sergey Krasny. service. First of all, many oncological dispensaries in the country were repurposed — partially or completely — to provide care to patients with covid infection. Accordingly, cancer patients who were to be treated there were redirected to us. But this did not overload our center. Now we always have vacant space, as the number of cancer patients
ANNA ZANKOVICH
— Sergey Anatolyevich, how did the spread of COVID‑19 affect the diagnosis of cancer, the work of the Republican Sci‑ entific and Practical Center for Oncology and Medical Radiology, and the behavior of the patients themselves? — This is definitely a big problem. The spread of coronavirus infection affected the work of the entire oncological
Oncologist Sergey Krasny
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БЕЛАРУСЬ. BELARUS 2021
coming for treatment has significantly decreased. This is due to two factors. Firstly, at the initial stages of malignant tumors, most often there is no need to provide urgent assistance. These tumors, as a rule, progress slowly, and in 1–3 months the health status of these patients will not change significantly, so we can wait for a decrease in the incidence of coronavirus infection and treat them in spring or summer. Secondly, polyclinics and district hospitals are now working with great overload and provide care mainly to patients with COVID‑19 infection. Naturally, they cannot engage in routine care, including the diagnosis of malignant tumors, screening has completely stopped. Accordingly, the number of diagnosed cancer patients has decreased. Therefore, there is no large influx to our center. We fully cope with those patients who come to us. Hospitalization is very strictly organized here: everyone must have a negative test for coronavirus infection. In addition, before hospitalization, we do all our patients a computed tomography of the lungs, because even with a negative analysis for COVID‑19, cases with asymptomatic pneumonia slip through. After all, PCR analysis, unfortunately, is not 100 % accurate. In addition, it is valid for several days, during this time a person can get in-
