Radiological and clinicopathological findings of breast cancer during the COVID-19 pandemic: a comparative study with the pre-pandemic era.

PURPOSE: 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. METHODS: 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. RESULTS: 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 (P < 0.001, P = 0.044, P = 0.001, respectively). There was no significant difference between the groups in respect of in situ/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 (P > 0.15). The radiologic findings of breast cancer during the pandemic typically showed characteristics of malignancy. CONCLUSION: 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.

Prevalence of Incidental Gynecomastia by Chest Computed Tomography in Patients with a Prediagnosis of COVID-19 Pneumonia.

OBJECTIVE: In this study, we aimed to determine the prevalence of gynecomastia by evaluating computed tomography (CT) images of male patients who were admitted to our hospital during the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study included a total of 1,877 patients who underwent chest CT for prediagnosis of COVID-19 pneumonia between March 15th and May 15th, 2020. All images were evaluated for the presence of gynecomastia. Gynecomastia patterns were evaluated according to morphological features, and diagnoses were made by measuring the largest glandular tissue diameter. Statistical analysis was performed with IBM SPSS software version 25.0. RESULTS: The prevalence of gynecomastia was 32.3%. In terms of pattern, 22% were nodular, 57% were dendritic, and 21% were diffuse glandular gynecomastia. A significant correlation was found between age and gynecomastia pattern (p<0.001). The incidence of nodular, dendritic, and diffuse glandular gynecomastia increased with advancing age. A significant difference was found in the analysis of the correlation between age groups and glandular tissue diameters (p<0.001). With an increase in glandular tissue diameter, the gynecomastia pattern changed from a nodular to a diffuse glandular pattern. CONCLUSION: In our study, gynecomastia diagnosis was made through axial CT images. Although CT should not replace mammography and ultrasonography for clinical diagnosis of gynecomastia, chest CT scans can be used to evaluate patients with suspected gynecomastia.