Key clinical point: COVID-19 pandemic has changed breast cancer (BC) management strategies, with the use of neoadjuvant endocrine therapy (NET) increasing significantly during the pandemic; however, no effect was observed on BC stage at diagnosis.
Major finding: The use of NET increased significantly during COVID-19 pandemic period ( P = .002), particularly in patients with stage I hormone receptor-positive, human epidermal growth factor receptor 2-negative BC where the use of NET increased from 10% pre-COVID-19 to 23% during COVID-19 pandemic (P = .001). The pandemic had no effect on clinical prognostic stage ( P = 0.39) and proportion of patients with clinical nodal status+ BC ( P = 0.38).
Study details: This was a retrospective chart review including patients with newly diagnosed BC who presented at Mayo Clinic, Rochester during (March-August 2020; n=197) or before (March-August 2019; n=376) the COVID-19 pandemic.
Disclosures: Dr. Boughey declared receiving research funding from Lilly and was on a data and safety monitoring board for Cairns Surgical.
Source: Tonneson JE et al. Ann Surg Oncol. 2021 Nov 23. doi: 10.1245/s10434-021-11088-6 .