ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: During the COVID-19 pandemic, guidelines recommended that breast cancer centers delay estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer surgeries with neoadjuvant endocrine therapy. We aimed to evaluate pathologic upstaging of breast cancer patients affected by these guidelines. METHODS: Female patients with stage I/II breast cancer receiving neoadjuvant endocrine therapy were prospectively identified and were matched to a historical cohort of stage I/II estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer patients treated with upfront surgery ≤35 days. Primary outcomes were pathologic T and N upstaging versus clinical staging. RESULTS: After matching, 28 neoadjuvant endocrine therapy and 48 control patients remained. Median age in each group was 65 (P = .68). Most patients (78.6% and 79.2%) had invasive ductal carcinoma with a clinical tumor size of 0.9 cm vs 1.7 cm (P = .056). Time to surgery was 68 days in the neoadjuvant endocrine therapy group and 26.5 days in the control (P < .001). A total of 23 neoadjuvant endocrine therapy patients (82.1%) had the same or lower pT-stage compared with 31 (64.5%) control patients (P = .115). Only 3 (10.7%) neoadjuvant endocrine therapy patients had increased pN-stage vs 14 (29.2%) control patients (P = .063). CONCLUSION: Despite 2.5-times longer delays, patients with early-stage estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer receiving neoadjuvant endocrine therapy did not experience pathologic upstaging during the COVID-19 pandemic. These findings may support the use of neoadjuvant endocrine therapy in similar patients if delays to surgery are projected.
Subject(s)
Antineoplastic Agents, Hormonal/therapeutic use , Breast Neoplasms/surgery , COVID-19 , Carcinoma, Ductal, Breast/surgery , Time-to-Treatment/statistics & numerical data , Aged , Breast Neoplasms/drug therapy , Breast Neoplasms/metabolism , Carcinoma, Ductal, Breast/drug therapy , Carcinoma, Ductal, Breast/metabolism , Case-Control Studies , Female , Humans , Mastectomy/statistics & numerical data , Middle Aged , Neoadjuvant Therapy , Prospective Studies , Receptors, Estrogen/metabolismABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Surgical delays are associated with invasive cancer for patients with ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS). During the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome-Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic, neoadjuvant endocrine therapy (NET) was used as a bridge until postponed surgeries resumed. This study sought to determine the impact of NET on the rate of invasive cancer for patients with a diagnosis of DCIS who have a surgical delay compared with those not treated with NET. METHODS: Using the National Cancer Database, the study identified women with hormone receptor-positive (HR+) DCIS. The presence of invasion on final pathology was evaluated after stratifying by receipt of NET and by intervals based on time from diagnosis to surgery (≤30, 31-60, 61-90, 91-120, or 121-365 days). RESULTS: Of 109,990 women identified with HR+ DCIS, 276 (0.3%) underwent NET. The mean duration of NET was 74.4 days. The overall unadjusted rate of invasive cancer was similar between those who received NET ((15.6%) and those who did not (12.3%) (p = 0.10). In the multivariable analysis, neither the use nor the duration of NET were independently associated with invasion, but the trend across time-to-surgery categories demonstrated a higher rate of upgrade to invasive cancer in the no-NET group (p < 0.001), but not in the NET group (p = 0.97). CONCLUSIONS: This analysis of a pre-COVID cohort showed evidence for a protective effect of NET in HR+ DCIS against the development of invasive cancer as the preoperative delay increased, although an appropriately powered prospective trial is needed for a definitive answer.
Subject(s)
Breast Neoplasms , COVID-19 , Carcinoma, Ductal, Breast , Carcinoma, Intraductal, Noninfiltrating , Breast Neoplasms/drug therapy , Breast Neoplasms/epidemiology , Breast Neoplasms/surgery , Carcinoma, Ductal, Breast/drug therapy , Carcinoma, Ductal, Breast/epidemiology , Carcinoma, Ductal, Breast/surgery , Carcinoma, Intraductal, Noninfiltrating/drug therapy , Carcinoma, Intraductal, Noninfiltrating/epidemiology , Carcinoma, Intraductal, Noninfiltrating/surgery , Female , Humans , Neoadjuvant Therapy , Pandemics , Prospective Studies , SARS-CoV-2ABSTRACT
In this review, we report a case of a bone's metastatic breast cancer in Malian patient treated by chemotherapy in whom SRAS-COV-2's diagnosis was made 9days after the onset gastrointestinal symptoms. Patient quickly died before any COVID-19's treatment. According to the poor outcomes of cancer patients with COVID-19, authors emphasize to an intensive attention to such patients in order to find the best therapeutic balance between the two pathologies during this pandemic.