Breast Cancer Management Timelines in a Tertiary Care Center During the COVID-19 Pandemic, Makkah City, Saudi Arabia: A Retrospective Study.

BACKGROUND: Breast cancer (BC) is a prevalent form of cancer and a leading cause of death among women worldwide. In Saudi Arabia, it accounted for 31.8% among females of all new cancer cases reported in 2018. Following the declaration of COVID-19 as a global pandemic, there was a complete redistribution of healthcare resources to face this crisis, which caused a significant delay in the management of various diseases, including BC. There is currently a lack of research in our region on the facility time interval in BC management. Therefore, this study aimed to fill this gap by determining the timelines of diagnosis, management, and factors influencing the delay. METHODS: This observational retrospective study included all female patients diagnosed with BC at or referred to King Abdullah Medical City (KAMC) in Makkah, Saudi Arabia, between January 2020 and August 2021. The data for this study were obtained from a centralized electronic chart review of all included patients at the KAMC center. RESULTS: A total of 76 patients were included in the study, with a mean age of 50 ± 11 years. In terms of the disease management duration, 20 patients (26.3%) completed their management within 30 days, 28 patients (36.8%) had a management duration between 31 and 60 days, and the management duration of 28 patients (36.8%) exceeded 60 days. Patient deposition showed a significant association with delay (p = 0.033). A higher incidence of delays at the initiation of treatment was observed in patients who failed to attend appointments (p < 0.001). Among patients who skipped two or more appointments, 12 individuals (80%) experienced a delay of more than 60 days. Moreover, appointment cancellation was associated with delayed treatment initiation (p = 0.03). Patients' age and comorbidity showed no significant association (p = 0.49, p = 0.24, respectively). CONCLUSION: Our findings highlight the significant impact of patient deposition and canceled or skipped appointments on delayed initiation of therapy for BC patients. Further research should be conducted to evaluate the impact of COVID-19 on other malignancies.

Clinicopathologic characteristics of HER2-positive pure mucinous carcinoma of the breast.

BACKGROUND: Pure mucinous carcinoma (PMC) is a rare type of breast cancer, estimated to represent 2% of invasive breast cancer. PMC is typically positive for estrogen receptors (ER) and progesterone receptors (PR) and negative for human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2). The clinicopathologic characteristics of HER2-positive PMC have not been investigated. METHODS: Pathology archives were searched for PMC diagnosed from January 1999 to April 2018. Clinicopathologic data and microscopic findings were reviewed and compared between HER2-positive PMC and HER2-negative PMC. We also analyzed the differences in disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival according to clinicopathologic parameters including HER2 status in overall PMC cases. RESULTS: There were 21 HER2-positive cases (4.8%) in 438 PMCs. The average tumor size of HER2-positive PMC was 32.21 mm (± 26.55). Lymph node metastasis was present in seven cases. Compared to HER2-negative PMC, HER2-positive PMC presented with a more advanced T category (p < .001), more frequent lymph node metastasis (p = .009), and a higher nuclear and histologic grade (p < .001). Microscopically, signet ring cells were frequently observed in HER2-positive PMC (p < .001), whereas a micropapillary pattern was more frequent in HER2-negative PMC (p = .012). HER2-positive PMC was more frequently negative for ER (33.3% vs. 1.2%) and PR (28.6% vs. 7.2%) than HER2-negative PMC and showed a high Ki-67 labeling index. During follow-up, distant metastasis and recurrence developed in three HER2-positive PMC patients. Multivariate analysis revealed that only HER2-positivity and lymph node status were significantly associated with DFS. CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that HER2-positive PMC is a more aggressive subgroup of PMC. HER2 positivity should be considered for adequate management of PMC.

Oncologic Outcomes of Nipple-Sparing Mastectomy with Immediate Breast Reconstruction in Patients with Tumor-Nipple Distance Less than 2.0 cm.

PURPOSE: Although the indications for nipple-sparing mastectomy (NSM) are expanding, there remains a debate regarding the oncologic outcomes of patients treated with this method, especially those with a short tumor-nipple distance (STND). The aim of this study was to compare the long-term oncologic outcomes between patients with a long tumor-nipple distance (LTND) (≥ 2.0 cm) and those with STND (< 2.0 cm). METHODS: This was a retrospective study in which 266 patients who underwent NSM with immediate breast reconstruction between January 2008 and December 2014 at a single institution were enrolled. Of these patients, 21 were excluded because of loss to follow-up; thus, 245 patients were finally analyzed. All patients underwent preoperative breast magnetic resonance imaging and intraoperative frozen biopsy. RESULTS: The mean age of the patients was 42.4 years. STND was identified in 128 patients, and LTND in 117 patients. The mean follow-up period was 60.5 months. There were no significant differences between the 2 groups with respect to lymphovascular invasion, nuclear grade, nodal status, and subtype (p = 0.339, 0.372, 0.955, and 0.338, respectively). The STND group had significantly smaller tumors than the LTND group (p = 0.005). The median TND in the STND and LTND groups was 0.7 cm and 3.0 cm, respectively. Locoregional recurrence was reported in 4 patients in the STND group (3.1%) and 6 (5.1%) in the LTND group. A total of 3 patients died (1.2%; 2 in the STND group and one in the LTND group). There was no significant difference between the 2 groups with respect to disease-free survival or local recurrence-free survival (p = 0.334 and p = 0.477, respectively). CONCLUSION: The long-term oncologic outcomes of patients treated with NSM did not significantly differ according to TND when the intraoperative frozen biopsy was negative for tumor cells.

Use of Sentinel Lymph Node Biopsy after Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy in Patients with Axillary Node-Positive Breast Cancer in Diagnosis.

PURPOSE: This study aimed to evaluate the effects of sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) on recurrence and survival after neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) in breast cancer patients with cytology-proven axillary node metastasis. METHODS: We selected patients who were diagnosed with invasive breast cancer and axillary lymph node metastasis and were treated with NAC followed by curative surgery between January 2007 and December 2014. We classified patients into three groups: group A, negative sentinel lymph node (SLN) status and no further dissection; group B, negative SLN status with backup axillary lymph node dissection (ALND); and group C, no residual axillary metastasis on pathology with standard ALND. RESULTS: The median follow-up time was 51 months (range, 3-122 months) and the median number of retrieved SLNs was 5 (range, 2-9). The SLN identification rate was 98.3% (234/238 patients), and the false negative rate of SLNB after NAC was 7.5%. There was no significant difference in axillary recurrence-free survival (p=0.118), disease-free survival (DFS; p=0.578) or overall survival (OS; p=0.149) among groups A, B, and C. In the subgroup analysis of breast pathologic complete response (pCR) status, there was no significant difference in DFS (p=0.271, p=0.892) or OS (p=0.207, p=0.300) in the breast pCR and non-pCR patients. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that SLNB can be feasible and oncologically safe after NAC for cytology-determined axillary node metastasis patients and could help reduce arm morbidity and lymphedema by avoiding ALND in SLN-negative patients.