COVID-19 or Not, Breast Cancer Treatment Must Go On.

Abstract

When at the end of last year Professor Traian Patrascu asked me to coordinate an issue of the journal "Chirurgia" dedicated to breast cancer, I was both surprised and intrigued. For two reasons: firstly it seemed to me so little time had passed since the previous issue about this disease and perhaps there weren't many new things to say and secondly I believed that the only topic worth discussing nowadays was the disease that overshadowed anything else: COVID-19. Nevertheless I realized that he was right. More than 3 years had passed since the previous issue and there were many updates related to this subject and COVID-19 or not, the treatment of breast cancer must continue. I am grateful to those who answered to my invitation to write an article. I was amazed by the huge number and the quality of the papers received. They were so numerous that we decided to have a supplement of the journal dedicated to breast cancer edited with the contribution of the Romanian Society of Breast Surgery and Oncology. The COVID-19 pandemic has affected the entire planet in almost every aspect of life, including the medical system. The treatment of other diseases, other than COVID-19, has in some way become secondary, at least for the time being. This had immediate repercussions and will inevitably have a long-term impact as well. Breast cancer patients suffered consequently. Screening, diagnosis, treatments including surgery and post therapeutic follow-ups have been profoundly affected by the pandemic.