Department of Radiology, İzmir Katip Çelebi University Faculty of Medicine, İzmir, Turke.
Department of Radiology, Ege University Faculty of Medicine, İzmir, Turkey.
Diagn Interv Radiol. 2023 Jan 31;29(1):53-58. doi: 10.5152/dir.2022.21646. Epub 2023 Jan 2.
The diagnosis and surgical treatment delays that occurred during the coronavirus disease-2019- (COVID-19) pandemic may have affected breast cancer presentation. This study aimed to determine whether there was a difference in the clinicopathological characteristics of breast cancers during the pandemic by comparing them with similar cases from the previous year. The study also aimed to determine the radiological findings of breast cancers during the pandemic.
A retrospective review was made of patients who underwent surgery for breast cancer between March 11, 2020, and December 11, 2020 (the pandemic group). These patients were compared with similar patients from the previous year (the pre-pandemic group). The postoperative histopathology results of both groups were compared, and the preoperative radiological findings of the pandemic group were defined.
There were 71 patients in the pandemic group and 219 patients in the pre-pandemic group. The tumor size was significantly greater, lymph node involvement was more frequent, and waiting time for surgery was longer in the pandemic group ( < 0.001, = 0.044, = 0.001, respectively). There was no significant difference between the groups in respect of /invasive tumor distribution, histological type and histological grade of tumor, the presence of lymphovascular/perineural invasion, multifocal/multicentric focus, and Breast Imaging Reporting and Data System Classification ( > 0.15). The radiologic findings of breast cancer during the pandemic typically showed characteristics of malignancy.
Patients diagnosed with breast cancer during the COVID-19 pandemic had larger tumor sizes, more frequent lymph node involvement and longer waiting time for surgical treatment. Screening programs should be continued as soon as possible by taking necessary precautions.
2019 年冠状病毒病（COVID-19）大流行期间发生的诊断和手术治疗延迟可能影响了乳腺癌的表现。本研究旨在通过比较大流行期间与前一年的相似病例，确定COVID-19 大流行期间乳腺癌的临床病理特征是否存在差异。本研究还旨在确定COVID-19 大流行期间乳腺癌的影像学表现。
回顾性分析了 2020 年 3 月 11 日至 2020 年 12 月 11 日期间接受乳腺癌手术的患者（大流行组）。将这些患者与前一年的相似患者（大流行前组）进行比较。比较两组患者的术后组织病理学结果，并定义大流行组的术前影像学表现。
大流行组有 71 例患者，大流行前组有 219 例患者。大流行组的肿瘤大小明显更大，淋巴结受累更频繁，手术等待时间更长（<0.001，=0.044，=0.001）。两组在浸润性肿瘤分布、肿瘤组织学类型和组织学分级、有无淋巴管/周围神经侵犯、多灶/多中心病灶、乳腺影像报告和数据系统分类（>0.15）等方面无显著差异。COVID-19 大流行期间乳腺癌的影像学表现通常具有恶性特征。
在 COVID-19 大流行期间诊断为乳腺癌的患者肿瘤较大，淋巴结受累更频繁，手术治疗等待时间更长。应尽快采取必要的预防措施，继续进行筛查计划。
