Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Surgical Breast Cancer Patients Undergoing Neoadjuvant Therapy: A Multicentric Study.
Anticancer Res
; 41(9): 4535-4542, 2021 Sep.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-34475080
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND/AIM:
Due to the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, many scientific committees proposed neoadjuvant therapy (NACT) bridging treatment as a novel strategy and indication. The aim of the study was to evaluate the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on breast cancer patients undergoing NACT. PATIENTS ANDMETHODS:
All breast cancer patients referred to two Breast Units during COVID-19-pandemic were enrolled.RESULTS:
Out of 814 patients, 43(5.3%) were enrolled in the COVID-19-group and compared with 94 (7.9%) similar Pre-COVID-19 patients. We observed a reduction in the number of patients undergoing NACT, p=0.0019. No difference was reported in terms of clinical presentation, indications, and tumor response. In contrast, a higher number of vascular adverse events was reported (6.9% vs. 0% p=0.029). Immediate breast cancer reconstructions following invasive surgery suffered a significant slowdown (5.9% vs. 47.7%, p=0.019).CONCLUSION:
COVID-19 caused a reduction in the number of patients undergoing NACT, with no changes in terms of indications, clinical presentation, and tumor response. Furthermore, there was an increased incidence of vascular events.Key words
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Breast Neoplasms
/
Mammaplasty
/
Neoadjuvant Therapy
/
COVID-19
/
Antineoplastic Agents
Type of study:
Observational_studies
/
Risk_factors_studies
Limits:
Adult
/
Aged
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Middle aged
Language:
En
Journal:
Anticancer Res
Year:
2021
Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Italy