US cancer patients are facing longer waits for surgery - and the consequences are dire

American cancer patients are facing longer surgery wait times today than over the past few decades - with dangerous consequences.

Wait times have increased from weeks to over a month for six types of common cancer, a new study of more than 2.7 million patients found.

Those cancers include breast, colon, lung, pancreatic, gastric and esophageal cancer, medical researchers said this week. The patients had stage 1 to 3 cancers - the only stages considered eligible for surgery at diagnosis.

For people with breast cancer, wait times increase from 34 days to 45 days, gastric cancer waits rose from 35 to 49 days and those with colon cancer waited for between 20 to 31 days.

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Source: The Independent, 13 August 2026