Dr. Mercado on the Effect of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Lung Cancer Screening

Jorge M. Mercado, MD, clinical associate professor, Department of Medicine, NYU Grossman School of Medicine, NYU Langone Health’s Perlmutter Cancer Center, associate section chief, Pulmonary, Critical Care & Sleep Medicine, NYU Langone Hospital-Brooklyn, discusses the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on lung cancer screening.

The COVID-19 pandemic affected the lung cancer screening, diagnosis, and treatment process, Mercado states. This effect is largely due to patients staying in their homes, missing appointments, checkups, and scans, Mercado explains.

Moreover, many patients were unable to see clinicians, as they were appointed to intensive care units to treat patients with COVID-19, Mercado continues. For months, lung cancer, along with cancer care in general, was delayed, Mercado concludes.