Dr. Christopher Johansenis a radiologist and breast imagining specialist at the Edith Sanford Breast Center. As such he has witnessed first-hand a troubling trend to delay mammography screening during the coronavirus pandemic.
In the early months of the pandemic, elective screenings were delayed with the blessing of providers who were freeing up staff for spikes in COVID-19 patients.
While pandemic conditions persist, Sanford Health encourages you to come in for routine care to help maintain health and catch concerns early.
Learn more:How Sanford Health keeps clinics safe
“You can markedly impact your risk of dying from breast cancer by getting a screening mammogram,” Dr. Johansen said. “There is some flexibility on your screening mammogram but at the end of the day if you don’t get your screening mammogram, it will not help you decease your risk of dying of breast cancer.”
这一建议并不只适用于乳房x光检查。
“It’s important for patients to know that we are taking many precautions to make sure that their experience here at Sanford is completely safe,” Dr. Johansen said. “It is safer than many of the other activities that they may be doing during the day.”
你是否因为大流行而推迟了健康检查，而没有重新安排?许多人。现在是回到正轨的时候了。以下健康检查对于建立和保持良好的健康状况以及在早期发现疾病至关重要。
Colorectal cancer screening
Colorectal cancer is 90% treatable when detected early. Screenings can also find noncancerous colon polyps or colon cancer early, when they can be easily removed or cured. Colorectal cancer is the second-leading cancer killer in America (among men and women when combined).
45岁及以上的患者应该每10年进行一次筛查，或者根据医生的决定，筛查的频率要更高。大约90%的结肠癌患者年龄在50岁以上。
Sanford Health offers these screenings:
- Colonoscopy:A procedure that looks for cancerous or pre-cancerous polyps in the colon using a camera and light on a flexible tube. Patients should be screened every 10 years, or more often as determined by their physician.
- FIT (Fecal Immunochemical Test):一种有助于检测消化道出血的测试，这可能是结直肠癌的迹象。病人每年都应该接受检查。如果检查结果不规律，就需要结肠镜检查。
- FIT-DNA test:A highly accurate test that checks for tumor-specific DNA changes. Patients should be screened every 3 years. If screening comes back irregular, a colonoscopy is needed.
“People are thinking ‘Well, I’ll do it next year,’” said Dr.Jason Myrmoe, a primary care physician with Sanford. “Men and women will just follow it up with the next visit. So rather than a month’s delay it could potentially be six months, or a year delay. That’s much longer for that cancer to spread. Then it becomes much more difficult to treat.”
Cervical cancer screening
Cervical cancer is preventable. In addition to screening, HPV vaccination is also encouraged for most patients. There’s nothing right now that can prevent ovarian cancer, but women who make some lifestyle choices can reduce their risk.
Women between ages 21 and 29 should have a Pap test every three years. Women between ages 30 and 65 should have a Pap test plus an HPV test every five years, or a Pap test alone every three years.
“We screen for cancer because we want to identify it and catch it before it becomes a bigger problem than it already is,” Dr. Myrmoe said.
Disease-specific screening
Diabetes is a common example of a chronic disease that needs to be monitored. Are you getting your blood work? And getting your foot exams and your eyes checked on a regular basis?
Video visits can be an effective aid in many cases for diabetes and other chronic conditions like hypertension.
After an initial visit for diabetes, for instance, providers can often monitor patients without another face-to-face visit.
“After you’ve seen them in person, patients can do a quick video visit to talk about insulin management and adjustments and following up after we do the new medication,” Dr. Myrmoe said.
Immunizations
确切地说，这不是一种筛查，但免疫接种是预防健康计划的重要组成部分，尤其是对儿童。如果太多的家庭推迟接种疫苗，可能会导致可预防疾病的爆发。
The vaccination process is often a partner with scheduled wellness visits. Without the visits, vaccines can fall behind.
“We definitely want families to come in,” saidDr. Laura Whittington, a Sanford Health pediatrician. “We want to stay up-to-date on vaccines and we want to make sure that they don’t have chronic health issues, such as high cholesterol or high blood pressure.”
Mammograms
2022世界杯巴西阵容桑福德健康中心建议从40岁开始每年进行一次乳房x光检查。每年一次的筛查可以在早期和最可治疗的阶段发现乳腺癌。桑福德的乳腺放射科医生、持证乳房x光检查师和遗传咨询师都会根据你的基因和风险因素为你制定个性化的预防计划。
“Your ability to decrease your risk of dying of breast cancer is directly related to having regular mammography,” Dr. Johansen said. “If you wait on that test you may be okay but your chances of breast cancer developing, and then not being detected, go up. And the longer you wait, the less benefit you get for your mammography.”
Behavioral health screening
在大流行情况下的隔离可能很难处理。除此之外，新冠病毒的传播还带来了对自己健康的担忧，从而带来了额外的压力。
These anxieties should not be ignored.
“The longer we let things go on, the more effect they have on our body and our social health,” saidDr. Jerrod Spring, a psychiatrist atSanford Health Behavioral Health.
“If we can get treatment sooner rather than later, the odds of getting into a full recovery are much higher than delayed care. … If you had pneumonia and you didn’t go to the hospital and get antibiotics and get that treated, you’re more likely to have a bad outcome. The same thing would stand for depression or anxiety.”
Read more
- Newborn screenings: Why do them? What’s the benefit?
- Pandemic affects mental health of pregnant women, new moms
- How to choose a primary care physician in four steps
…
Posted InBehavioral Health,Bemidji,Cancer Screenings,Family Medicine,Fargo,Healthy Living,Imaging,Immunizations,Internal Medicine,Sioux Falls,Virtual Care
