Repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic on breast cancer treatment in a referral hospital in Santos-SP, Brazil

Abstract

Objective: Considering that breast cancer has the fifth highest mortality rate in the world, this study aims to evaluate the repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic on the treatment, both surgical and systemic, of patients with cancer in general and those with breast cancer at Hospital Guilherme Álvaro (Santos, Brazil), between March 1st, 2019 and February 28, 2021. Methods: For this purpose, data were collected from both the hospital’s surgery record book and electronic medical records of patients who were followed up in the Mastology and Oncology sectors at Hospital Guilherme Álvaro. This information was tabulated, estimating the total number of surgeries, whether: benign elective surgeries, diagnostic surgeries, surgeries of cancer in general, surgeries exclusive to mastology, of cancer in mastology, benign surgery in mastology, and plastic reconstructive surgery. The percentage ratio between these numbers was calculated. Results: A 49% reduction in total surgeries was observed, comparing the period prior to the pandemic (2019–2020) with the pandemic period (2020–2021), with a decrease of 24.6% in the number of general cancer surgeries except for mastology, and 19.6% of surgeries exclusive to mastology. In other words, there was a total reduction of 22.9% in all oncological surgeries. Moreover, there was a decrease of 11.5% in the total number of patients treated with chemotherapy. In 2020, of the 214 new cases, 116 (54.2%) were mastology patients, being 45.8% of other oncology clinics. Conclusion: Thus, it is concluded that the reduction in the number of aesthetic, benign, and reconstructive surgeries was expected, as observed in the decrease in the number of chemotherapies, which could be due to a limitation on medical appointments. The number of diagnostic surgeries remained stable, which could lead to positive outcomes for oncology patients. It is not possible to predict the next repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic on breast cancer treatment while the pandemic endures, requiring more studies on this topic.