Breast cancer management during the COVID-19 pandemic: Report from a General Hospital Based Cancer Registry from 2019 to 2022

Purpose: This study aimed to describe breast cancer management during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Methods: This research is a retrospective descriptive study using secondary data from medical records. The study included 70 patients with breast cancer at Dr. M. Djamil General Hospital from March 2019 to December 2022, who met the inclusion and exclusion criteria. The data analysis used is univariate analysis and presented in the form of a frequency distribution table so that a descriptive picture of each variable studied is obtained.
Results: This study included 70 patients with mean age of 40.91 years. During the pandemic, 60.0% of the patients visited the surgical polyclinic. Half of the breast cancer patients had a secondary diagnosis such as pleural effusion (28.6%). The majority of the subjects were at stage IIIC (32.9%). More than half (51.4%) of the patients underwent a modified radical mastectomy. The most common pathological anatomy diagnosis was invasive carcinoma mammae NST (47.1%). An Immunohistochemistry examination was conducted on 24 (34.3%) subjects. Less than half of the patients received chemotherapy. The majority of the patients underwent surgery and chemotherapy 1 month after diagnosis. Mortality is seen in 8.7% of breast cancer patients.
Conclusion: During the COVID-19 pandemic, the majority of breast cancer patients undergo anatomical pathology and immunohistochemistry examination through the surgical polyclinic, breast cancer patients who come to the emergency department are usually admitted with breathing problems due to pleural effusion, and surgery and chemotherapy are performed within 1 month.