The necessity of proactive measures from healthcare providers highlighted by delayed breast cancer diagnosis due to COVID-19: A case report

Yudai Kaneda; Akihiko Ozaki; Mira Namba; Toyoaki Sawano; Masahiro Wada; Hiroaki Saito; Yoshiaki Kanemoto; Tomohiro Kurokawa; Masaharu Tsubokura; Kazunoshin Tachibana; Tetsuya Tanimoto; Tohru Ohtake; Tomozo Ejiri; Hiroaki Shimmura; Norio Kanzaki

doi:10.1002/ccr3.7919

The necessity of proactive measures from healthcare providers highlighted by delayed breast cancer diagnosis due to COVID-19: A case report

Clin Case Rep. 2023 Sep 15;11(9):e7919. doi: 10.1002/ccr3.7919. eCollection 2023 Sep.

Authors

Yudai Kaneda¹, Akihiko Ozaki^{2

3}, Mira Namba⁴, Toyoaki Sawano⁵, Masahiro Wada^{2

6}, Hiroaki Saito⁷, Yoshiaki Kanemoto⁵, Tomohiro Kurokawa^{5

8}, Masaharu Tsubokura⁹, Kazunoshin Tachibana¹⁰, Tetsuya Tanimoto¹¹, Tohru Ohtake¹⁰, Tomozo Ejiri², Hiroaki Shimmura¹², Norio Kanzaki²

Affiliations

¹ School of Medicine Hokkaido University Sapporo Japan.
² Department of Breast and Thyroid Surgery Jyoban Hospital of Tokiwa Foundation Iwaki Japan.
³ Department of Gastrointestinal Tract Surgery Fukushima Medical University Fukushima Japan.
⁴ School of Medicine Keio University Tokyo Japan.
⁵ Department of Surgery Jyoban Hospital of Tokiwa Foundation Iwaki Japan.
⁶ Utsunomiya Central Clinic Utsunomiya Japan.
⁷ Department of Internal Medicine Soma Central Hospital Soma Japan.
⁸ Department of Medical Epigenomics Research Fukushima Medical University Fukushima Japan.
⁹ Department of Radiation Health Management Fukushima Medical University School of Medicine Fukushima Japan.
¹⁰ Department of Breast Surgery Fukushima Medical University Fukushima Japan.
¹¹ Department of Internal Medicine Jyoban Hospital of Tokiwa Foundation Iwaki Japan.
¹² Department of Urology Jyoban Hospital of Tokiwa Foundation Iwaki Japan.

Abstract

Key clinical message: During disasters, multiple factors can cause significant delays in medical visits. Regular patient monitoring, high-risk individual alerts, and telemedicine enhancements can potentially alleviate these issues and ensure timely interventions.

Abstract: During the COVID-19 pandemic, a Japanese woman in her 70s delayed her regular breast cancer checkup for over 2 years. During disasters, health priorities tend to decline, necessitating proactive measures from healthcare providers, such as augmenting collaboration among healthcare professionals and identifying high-risk individuals.

Keywords: COVID‐19; Japan; breast cancer; disaster.

Publication types

Case Reports