Surgery for unconfirmed diagnoses postponed
- Due to Covid-19, patients without a confirmed cancer diagnosis must wait for exploratory surgery until hospital conditions become safer.
- Patients should watch for signs of complications such as obstruction or pain.
- Don't go to the ER without contacting your doctor first.
In these cases, Dr. Hanna and his colleagues have sometimes made the decision to delay surgery by about four weeks or so until the COVID-19 pandemic subsides, and hospital conditions are safer.
Read MoreIn metropolitan areas such as Detroit, where hospitals have been hard hit, doctors are taking extra precautions, both for their patients' safety and also their own. In cases where imaging has shown an ovarian mass suspicious of but unconfirmed to be cancer, Dr. Hanna believes that a short delay won't make a big difference in his patients' overall outcome. We've been advising patients to monitor themselves "watch for signs of complications, such as pain, and not to go to the ER unless we get called," he says.
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