BENGALURU: Covid treatment protocol has had the unintended consequence of detecting lung cancer in many people who were unaware of their condition, with the effect that treatment was started early, which improved odds of recovery.
Doctors say that lung cancer generally ends up being detected at advanced stages in India. Around 75% of all detected cases are diagnosed in Stage 4, and the prognosis is generally not as good as for Stages 1-3.
However, due to Covid protocol, doctors detected lung cancer in an elderly man and woman in Bengaluru who had contracted Covid, and were able to start treatment early for the pair, with good outcomes.
A 69-year-old man came down with a severe case of Covid-19 in July 2020.
He had severe hypoxia oxygen saturation levels dropped, and he was to undergo a CT scan of the chest.The CT scan revealed that the chest had features of a Covid infection of the lungs, and also detected a lung lesion.
The man recovered from Covid in about 20 days, and was advised to meet an oncologist.
A PET scan suggested that the lesion could be indicative of early-stage cancer. He underwent a biopsy which revealed that the lesion was cancerous.
“He was diagnosed with stage 2 cancer and is being treated for it. Early diagnosis definitely helped the patient, as against a late diagnosis,” said Dr Vishwanath S, consultant for medical oncology at Apollo Hospital Cancer Centre.
In another instance, a 74-year-old woman who showed severe Covid symptoms, was also asked to undergo a CT scan of the chest.
In her case, the scan revealed a lung lesion with lymph node spread in the chest, along with other Covid features. She was given radiation therapy and is following up on treatment.
“We are seeing a lot of non-smokers and women being diagnosed with lung cancer, unlike previously, when lung cancer mainly affected smokers,” Dr Vishwanath said.