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?:abstract
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Background: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak in South Korea has affected the diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up protocols of various cancers This study investigated the patterns of delaying surgery for breast cancer during the COVID-19 outbreak in South Korea and evaluated factors that may have affected the decision to delay surgery Methods: From February 18 to April 18, 2020, which was the critical period for COVID-19 in South Korea, patients with breast cancer who were scheduled for surgery were evaluated in terms of their decision in delaying the procedure The patients were divided into two groups: delaying and non-delaying surgery groups The association between personal and clinicopathological factors and delaying surgery was evaluated Results: In patients belonging to the delaying surgery group, the mean delay period was 15 9 (standard deviation [SD], ±10 9) days Patients in the non-delaying surgery group were relatively younger (p = 0 003), single (p = 0 038), had planned mastectomy (p = 0 041), received needle biopsy for diagnosis (p = 0 021), and had a higher clinical N stage (p = 0 049) and multifocal lesions of breast cancer (p = 0 020) However, there were no significant differences in terms of the pathological T and N stages between the two groups Conclusion: During the COVID-19 outbreak, there was no occurrence of nosocomial infection in the non-delaying surgery group and no statistical difference in pathological stage between the delaying and non-delaying surgery groups Although patients in the delaying surgery group tended to be relatively older and married and had planned small-scale surgery with a good prognosis of breast cancer, the prognosis did not appear to have changed whether delaying or proceeding with surgery for breast cancer during the COVID-19 outbreak
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