Over the past decade, the wait times for cancer surgeries in the US have steadily increased. Data from over two million patients diagnosed with non-metastatic cancers like breast, colon and lung show a significant rise in delays, raising concerns about patient outcomes.
The study, led by Timothy Donahue at UCLA, found that average wait times doubled for conditions such as breast cancer, increasing from 34 days to 45 days. For pancreatic cancer, it rose from 23 days to 32 days, with similar trends observed across other types.
These longer waits are not just inconvenient; they can have serious health implications. Delays in surgery correlate with poorer survival rates and higher patient anxiety—precisely the last thing a patient facing cancer needs.
The study breaks down wait times into four periods, revealing an incremental increase over time. From 2012 to 2023, the proportion of patients experiencing lengthy waits also grew, with those waiting 60 days or more seeing their numbers rise across all cancer types.
