Abstract
BackgroundThis study investigates the effects of COVID-19 on the breast cancer stage and the volume of breast cancer surgery in a specialized breast institute.MethodsData of 332 patients who were diagnosed and treated for breast cancer between December 2019 and November 2020 were evaluated retrospectively according to periods of pandemic.ResultsA significant decrease in the number of operations, especially upfront surgeries rather than surgeries after neoadjuvant chemotherapy, was detected in the early period of the COVID-19 pandemic. It was found that patients with complaints were mostly admitted during this period (p = 0.024). No statistical significance was found for age, sex, side of the tumor, type of tumor, surgery to breast, and axilla. Following the early period of the pandemic, it was observed that patients with mostly luminal, early-stage, and less axillary nodal involvement (p < 0.05) were admitted, and as a result, it was founded that upfront surgeries increased, although no change in TNM staging was observed. However, it did affect the decision of initial treatment. Thus, the number of upfront surgeries was significantly higher than the NCT group (p = 0.027) following the early period.ConclusionSurgical volume is significantly affected in the early period of the COVID-19 pandemic. To overcome overload due to delayed surgeries related to pandemics, some hospitals should be spared for oncological treatments. Following the early period, mostly luminal type, early-stage patients were admitted, probably because of increased self-awareness and short wave duration, but the breast cancer stage was not affected.
Highlights
The coronavirus-19 (COVID-19) outbreak, which started in Wuhan, China, in December 2019, rapidly spread to the whole world [1, 2]
This study investigates the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the breast cancer stage and the volume of breast cancer surgery in a specialized breast institute
The data of 332 patients who were diagnosed with breast cancer, underwent upfront surgery or started neoadjuvant chemotherapy between December 2019-November 2020 were retrospectively evaluated
Summary
The coronavirus-19 (COVID-19) outbreak, which started in Wuhan, China, in December 2019, rapidly spread to the whole world [1, 2]. On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization reported that it was a global health problem and declared as a pandemic [1, 2]. Due to the rapid spread of the pandemic, conservation of hospital beds for COVID-19 patients, and the introduction of lock-down measures, hospital admissions and screening programs for reasons other than COVID-19 had come to a halt in many countries, there were variation between countries in term of cancer management [3, 4]. In Turkey, admissions to hospitals for reasons other than COVID-19 decreased This was because of the rapid spread of the pandemic, the declaration of hospitals as pandemic hospitals, emphasizing the importance of social isolation and encouraging social isolation, and curfews including those people over the age of 65 years and with comorbidities.
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