Breast Cancer Management Guidelines During COVID-19 Pandemic

Manoj Gowda S; Kirti Katherine Kabeer; Sadaf Jafferbhoy; Sekhar Marla; Soni Soumian; Vivek Misra; Sankaran Narayanan; Adrian Murray Brunt

doi:10.1007/s12262-020-02466-7

Breast Cancer Management Guidelines During COVID-19 Pandemic

Indian J Surg. 2020 Jun;82(3):251-258. doi: 10.1007/s12262-020-02466-7. Epub 2020 Jul 2.

Authors

Manoj Gowda S¹, Kirti Katherine Kabeer¹, Sadaf Jafferbhoy¹, Sekhar Marla¹, Soni Soumian¹, Vivek Misra², Sankaran Narayanan^{1

3}, Adrian Murray Brunt^{3

4}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Breast Surgery, University Hospitals of North Midlands, Stoke-on-Trent, UK.
² The Christie NHS Foundation Trust, Manchester, UK.
³ Keele University, Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire UK.
⁴ Institute of Cancer Research, London, UK.

Abstract

The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic in 2020 has brought about complex challenges in healthcare delivery. With the new rules of lockdown and social distancing and with resources diverted to the management of COVID-19, there are difficulties in continuing usual cancer care. Patients are at risk of contracting COVID-19 with a high chance of patient to healthcare transmission and vice versa. Hospital visits, investigations and all modalities of treatment have potential complications that put patients at risk, some more than others. In this situation, there is a need to change our approach in the management of breast cancer to deliver it safely. We present modified guidelines based on the available consensus statements and evidence.

Keywords: Breast cancer; Breast surgery; COVID-19; Chemotherapy; Radiotherapy.

Publication types

Review