Nearly a quarter of patients who are eligible for cervical cancer screening are overdue for their current tests, researchers said in study findings published in JAMA Network Open. The number grew nearly 10% since 2005—representing a steady increase in missed screening over time—and was higher in different sociodemographic groups because of factors related to social determinants of health.

“Cancer doesn’t wait, and neither should you,” the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) urged patients in its new cancer screening adherence campaign. The COVID-19 pandemic has created barriers to regular health visits, screenings, and treatment for individuals everywhere, and providers and organizations alike are seeking solutions.

Responses to pandemic-related screening and treatment delays have created new opportunities for oncology advanced practice RNs (APRNs), too. In both their institutions and communities, APRNs are guiding patients and providers to reverse the increases in late cancer diagnoses, morbidity, and mortality—ultimately improving outcomes.

More Medicare beneficiaries now meet age, smoking history, and other criteria for lung cancer screening and are now eligible to receive low-dose computed tomography (LDCT), according to a February 2022 memo from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).

For the past two years, patients and providers have turned their attention to combatting a global health threat. We’ve nearly crumbled amid the chaos, but carried on through acts of comfort and innovation. However, as we pled for an end to this nightmare, for heard immunity through vaccination, another health threat took a backseat. Cancer screening rates plummeted, particularly among communities of color. Oncology nurses can use evidence-based interventions to increase screening rates for all patients with cancer.  

Comprehensive preventive care and screening guidelines for women and infants, children, and adolescents under the Affordable Care Act expanded in January 2022, requiring certain group health plans and insurance plans to provide coverage with no out-of-pocket costs for preventive health services, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA).

Compared to people living in urban areas, on a nationwide U.S. survey, rural populations were more likely to report believing that cancer is unpreventable and always fatal. Researchers reported the survey findings and analysis in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers, and Prevention.

Multimedia tools and resources can help patients learn more about a cancer diagnosis, treatment regimens, procedures, and follow-up care, among other important topics, and many institutions and organizations have jumped onto the bandwagon to create those resources for their patients. A new video series on gynecologic cancers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) adds another patient education resource to oncology nurses’ toolbox.

All cells (healthy cells and tumor cells) in the body shed DNA, called cell-free DNA (cfDNA). When it’s only from tumor cells, it’s referred to as circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA), although cfDNA and ctDNA are sometimes used interchangeably.

Colorectal cancer (CRC) screening may be beneficial for certain patients aged 75–85, according to findings from a new study. The researchers reported the results in JAMA Oncology.

African Americans have a higher cancer burden and face greater obstacles to cancer prevention, detection, treatment, and survival, according to the American Cancer Society. Health organizations such as ONS and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) are dedicated to breaking down barriers and improve access to quality care and resources for those patients. To increase cancer awareness in one of the most vulnerable segments of the U.S. population, the FDA’s Oncology Center of Excellence (OCE) dedicated June 17–23, 2021, as National Black Family Cancer Awareness Week.

According to the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF), colorectal cancer is the third leading cause of cancer death for both men and women, with an estimated 52,980 individuals in the U.S. projected to die from the disease in 2021. After evaluating the current evidence and conducting a modeling study, USPSTF updated its recommendations on colorectal cancer screening.

Clinicians are already seeing an increase in late-stage cancer diagnoses that they attribute to the pandemic-driven pause in cancer screening and treatment adherence, according to the results of a survey from the American Society for Radiation Oncology.

A series of text reminders to complete an at-home fecal immunochemical test increased screening completion rates by nearly 20%, researchers reported in study findings published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine. The results are particularly encouraging because almost 90% of the participants were Black, a population that typically has low screening adherence rates but higher incidence of and mortality from colorectal cancer.

Cancer mortality rates decreased by 27% from 1999–2019, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported in February 2021. However, cancer remains the one of the leading causes of death in the United States, second only to heart disease, and disparities remain. More needs to be done to decrease risk and increase prevention.

Sally, a nurse practitioner in a cancer survivorship clinic, is preparing to discuss screening and surveillance guidelines with Jonah, a 32-year-old survivor of Hodgkin lymphoma. Sally reviews Jonah’s patient history form and notes that Jonah uses he and him pronouns. His gender identity is male and sex assigned at birth was female. Jonah’s surgical history includes gender-affirming surgery on chest tissue (also known as top surgery), and his current medications include supplemental testosterone. Jonah also specifies that he is transmasculine—an umbrella term used to indicate that Jonah feels a connection with masculinity.

Reduced adherence to recommended screening and prevention relates to a lack of knowledge and barriers like inadequate insurance, low engagement with primary care, time constraints, and misconceptions about risks of screening or their individual risk of developing cancer. We must do a better job of educating people about cancer screening and linking them to affordable or free services. 

To increase access to breast and cervical cancer screening, U.S. Congress passed the Breast and Cervical Cancer Mortality Prevention Act of 1990, which led to the creation of the National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program (NBCCEDP). Because of NBCCEDP, eligible women who are low-income, underserved, and underinsured receive free breast and cervical cancer screening and diagnostic testing. 

The draft 2020 U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) lung cancer screening recommendations were intended to increase the number of high-risk minorities eligible for lifesaving tests. And they do, but not as much as USPSTF anticipated, still leaving gaps and disparities, researchers reported in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. They created a risk model to augment the guidelines that eliminated the disparities for most racial groups.

Nearly 1.9 million people in the United States will be diagnosed with cancer in 2021. However, overall cancer screenings dropped roughly 80% in 2020 because of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic and statewide stay-at-home orders. To combat the decline, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC’s) new outreach campaign reminds patients and providers of the importance of cancer screening. 

Patient education is an essential aspect of cancer prevention. Nearly 1.9 million people in the United States will be diagnosed with cancer in 2021, and modifiable risk factors are responsible for approximately 35% of cancer-related deaths. However, less than half of Americans understand the major risk factors that contribute to the development of cancer.

U.S. states that adopted the Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid expansion in January 2014 have earlier colon cancer diagnoses, enhanced access to care, and improved colon cancer surgical care than states that didn’t implement the expansion, researchers reported in Journal of the American College of Surgeons. Additionally, patients in the expansion states were more likely to have minimally invasive procedures and fewer urgent surgeries.

Many older adults are continuing cancer screenings beyond the recommended upper age limits, which range from age 65–75 years depending on the type of cancer screening, researchers reported in JAMA Network Open.

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in the United States, accounting for about one quarter of cancer deaths, and more than a quarter of million lung cancer diagnoses are projected in the United States for 2020. Lung cancer has various types, pathologies, and histologies, each with its own prognosis and treatment plan. Non-small cell lung cancer consists of about 80%–85% of lung cancer diagnoses.

People with a cervix who are aged 25–65 years should receive a human papillomavirus (HPV) test every five years, according to the new American Cancer Society (ACS) guidelines for cervical cancer screening.

The urinary system, including the bladder, ureters, urethra, and renal pelvis, is lined with urothelial tissue. Urothelial carcinoma is the predominant histologic type of cancer in that system, and 90% of tumors are located in the bladder. With more than 81,400 new cases and nearly 18,000 deaths estimated for 2020, bladder cancer is the fifth most prevalent type of cancer in the United States.

Patients who watch crime shows think that DNA testing is as simple as taking a cheek swab and getting the results in two minutes so the case is solved at the end of the 42-minute episode. The reality? DNA can be identified from buccal cells in a cheek swab, but results take several weeks to obtain and are not always a simple negative or positive.

When combined with positron-emission and computed tomography, a multicancer blood test identified 10 different tumor types in a sample of women with no history of cancer, researchers reported in Science.

As oncology nurses, we know that catching cancer early through screening leads to better outcomes and increased survival rates. We ask our survivors and loved ones to prioritize their cancer screenings, reminding them, “I do not want to see you in my clinic chair or hospital bed with cancer, especially not at an advanced level.” Take care of yourself by giving yourself the same lecture.

Approximately 53,000 cases of oral and oropharyngeal cancer are diagnosed in the United States each year. Men are twice as likely to develop the disease, and it typically affects people older than 55.  

Combining a traditional 12-point biopsy with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) improves the accuracy of prostate cancer diagnosis, according to findings from a new National Institutes of Health (NIH) study published in the New England Journal of Medicine. 

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most common cancer affecting men and women in the United States. When CRC is found at an early stage before it has spread, the five-year relative survival rate is about 90%, yet it remains a leading cause of cancer-related death among both genders. 

Although most cancers contain four to five driver mutations, those drivers remain unknown for about 5% of cancers, according to results of a series of studies examining genomes from 38 different cancer types. The international Pan-Cancer Analysis of Whole Genomes Consortium reported the findings in a collection of 23 articles published in Nature and other affiliated journals.

Modest differences may exist among women with diabetes compared to healthy controls when it comes to adhering to screening recommendations for breast, cervical, and colorectal cancers, according to results of a study published in Diabetologia.

Participation in clinician and patient conversations about lung cancer screening—as well as the actual screening itself—is relatively low. According to one study, only 3.9% of screening-
eligible patients had undergone lung cancer screening. Because the screening recommendations are newer, most patients are unaware that they exist, and research highlights that only 10%–12% of the patient population has had conversations with their clinicians about it.

Even though its incidence is less common, ovarian cancer is the fifth leading cause of death from cancer in women, according to the American Cancer Society. It also estimated more than 22,000 new cases of ovarian cancer in 2019, with a five-year survival of 47% for all stages.

Identifying a panel of tumor-associated antigens and autoantibodies through a simple blood test may one day help providers diagnose the earliest stages of breast cancer, before clinical signs appear.

As an industry standard, the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) screening guidelines have served a huge role in cancer prevention and early detection efforts, helping providers identify diagnoses early and give patients their best possible chance at survival. Ensuring screening guidelines are up to date and using the best available evidence is an ongoing process that requires an interprofessional approach.

Although society still hopes for that one big discovery to cure cancer, clinicians know that there’s already a tried and true method to give patients their best shot at survival: catching a diagnosis early or preventing one altogether.

One in nine men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer, the second leading cause of death in men in the United States. Survival varies greatly depending on the disease’s severity and extent at diagnosis: five-year survival rates are near 100% for local or regional disease, but they drop to 30% for metastatic prostate cancer.

As the leading cause of cancer death in the United States, lung cancer is pervasive and deadly. But like many cancers, patients have a better chance at successful treatment outcomes and survival if caught early through screening and early detection efforts. Despite lung cancer being the second most diagnosed cancer for men and women, not all Americans are aware of its screening recommendations. To address the gap in awareness, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is promoting a new public health campaign on the issue.

A blood test evaluating several biomarkers was able to reduce the number of lung cancers detected at later stages, according to study results presented at the 2019 World Conference on Lung Cancer.

Precision medicine has a been a hot topic in health care for years now, but costs and coverage issues have created challenges to get patients the genetic testing they need at an affordable cost. In a memo from October 29, 2019, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) proposed extending Medicare coverage to pay for genetic sequencing tests for certain hereditary types of ovarian and breast cancer.

In June 2019, in honor of Men’s Health Month, a group of Georgetown nurses, oncology specialists, and professionals from other concentrations volunteered for ONS at the annual Men’s Health Network Congressional Health Screening on Capitol Hill. It was an experience that I will never forget. To be in the offices of the U.S. Congress and to meet elected officials and their staff was incredible, but being able to do what nurses do best—act as the most trusted healthcare professional for patients—was wonderful.

As we reflect on the progress we’ve made to prevent and control cancer and focus on strategies that will help build on those efforts, one thing is certain: We’ve learned a lot about cancer, but we still have much to learn. Adopting healthy lifestyle habits and knowing your family’s history, especially as you get older, can help you lower a patient’s—or nurse’s—chance of getting cancer.

The National Institutes of Health’s (NIH’s) mission is to enhance health and reduce illness throughout the country. Cancer, as the second leading cause of death in the United States, tops the list of diseases on which NIH is focused. Understanding the impact of health disparities, NIH has effectively widened its reach to touch more underserved communities with new prevention efforts.

Not that long ago, women were told to get a Pap test every year. And most of us did, even though it wasn’t always clear why we were being tested. We just did what we were told and thought it was a surefire way to stay healthy. But times and recommendations have changed about what test to have, how often to have it, and the reason to have it. 

Targeted to healthcare providers, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has released a new public service health campaign to call attention to the importance of regular screenings for breast, cervical, and colorectal cancers. The Screen Out Cancer campaign is designed to raise awareness to ensure that patients and providers know that prevention begins with knowledge.