TY  - JOUR
T1  - Breast cancer patients with delayed radiotherapy during the pandemic process
AU  - Altundağ, Muzaffer Bedri
AU  - Azak, Can
AU  - Ertaş, Gülçin
AU  - Atar, Cafer
PY  - 2022
DA  - March
DO  - 10.38053/acmj.1040787
JF  - Anatolian Current Medical Journal
JO  - Anatolian Curr Med J / ACMJ / acmj
PB  - MediHealth Academy Yayıncılık
WT  - DergiPark
SN  - 2718-0115
SP  - 158
EP  - 161
VL  - 4
IS  - 2
LA  - en
AB  - Aim: In this study; We wanted to examine the changes and delays in radiotherapy of all our breast cancer patients diagnosed with COVID-19Material and Method: Radiotherapy delays of our breast cancer patients who had COVID-19 infection before and during radiotherapy between March 2020 and March 2021 were evaluated retrospectively. Results: Sixteen of a total of 642 breast cancer patients, 472 operated and 165 metastatic, who underwent radiotherapy were diagnosed with COVID-19. All patients were women, ages were between 40 and 77 (mean 54.6). Five patients had a mastectomy, 8 had breast-conserving surgery, and 3 had breast cancer with bone metastases. Different radiotherapy schemes were applied at different treatment duration according to the clinical stage and disease status. The first breast cancer patient with COVID-19 infection was diagnosed on 27 June 2020. Our other patients were diagnosed from June to December (n=15) in 2020. Treatment of patients infected during radiotherapy was interrupted after a mean of 10 fractions (2-24 fractions) and treatment was started after a mean of 25 days (21-44 days). Post-operative patients who could not start treatment because they were SARS-CoV-2 PCR positive were able to start treatment after a mean of 22 days (14-30 days). Conclusion: Radiotherapy could not be started at the recommended times for breast cancer patients infected with COVID-19 during the pandemic and the treatments had to be interrupted. Therefore, more care should be taken in the follow-up of these patients; should be considered as patients at risk for local recurrence and metastasis.
KW  - Breast Cancer
KW  - Radiotherapy
KW  - COVID-19
KW  - Pandemic
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UR  - https://doi.org/10.38053/acmj.1040787
L1  - https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/download/article-file/2148104
ER  -