Breast cancer research and treatment
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Breast Cancer Res. Treat. · Aug 2020
EditorialPurposeful surgical delay and the coronavirus pandemic: how will black breast cancer patients fare?
The Coronavirus pandemic has exposed substantial racial and ethnic health and healthcare disparities. Black breast cancer patients face significant disparities in stage of presentation, surgical management, and mortality. The objective of this editorial is to examine the possible implications of the surgical delay imposed by the pandemic on black breast cancer patients. ⋯ The COVID-19 pandemic may exacerbate delays in time to surgery among black breast cancer patients. Surgeons should incorporate collection of social determinants of health into their clinical practice to better understand the impact of COVID-19 on racial and ethnic disparities in surgical management.
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Breast Cancer Res. Treat. · Aug 2020
EditorialBreast cancer care during a pandemic: an opportune time for cryoablation?
Cryoablation is a minimally-invasive percutaneous procedure that is capable of reducing the psychosocial burden of surgical delay while also decreasing the morbidity of breast cancer therapy. The purpose of this editorial is to discuss the potential role of cryoablation for reducing the psychosocial burden of surgical delay during the COVID-19 pandemic by expediting the management of breast cancer while also lessening demand on limited healthcare resources. ⋯ As an office-based procedure performed under local anesthesia, cryoablation eliminates the need for operating room personnel and equipment while also reducing the psychosocial impact of delayed breast cancer surgery. By reducing the number of patient and healthcare provider interactions, cryoablation not only decreases the risk of viral transmission but also the need for personal protective devices during resource-limited times.
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Breast Cancer Res. Treat. · Jun 2020
EditorialRecommendations for prioritization, treatment, and triage of breast cancer patients during the COVID-19 pandemic. the COVID-19 pandemic breast cancer consortium.
The COVID-19 pandemic presents clinicians a unique set of challenges in managing breast cancer (BC) patients. As hospital resources and staff become more limited during the COVID-19 pandemic, it becomes critically important to define which BC patients require more urgent care and which patients can wait for treatment until the pandemic is over. In this Special Communication, we use expert opinion of representatives from multiple cancer care organizations to categorize BC patients into priority levels (A, B, C) for urgency of care across all specialties. ⋯ The implementation of these recommendations for patient triage, which are based on the highest level available evidence, must be adapted to current availability of hospital resources and severity of the COVID-19 pandemic in each region of the country. Additionally, the risk of disease progression and worse outcomes for patients need to be weighed against the risk of patient and staff exposure to SARS CoV-2 (virus associated with the COVID-19 pandemic). Physicians should use these recommendations to prioritize care for their BC patients and adapt treatment recommendations to the local context at their hospital.
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Breast Cancer Res. Treat. · Jan 2020
EditorialAssessing the additional surgical risk of contralateral prophylactic mastectomy and immediate breast implant reconstruction.
There has been a sharp rise in the rate of contralateral prophylactic mastectomy over the last decade, despite the low incidence of new primary cancers predicted for the contralateral breast. This study compares the postoperative complication rates between the diseased breast treated with mastectomy and the contralateral breast that underwent prophylactic mastectomy, followed by immediate bilateral breast implant reconstruction. We hypothesized that there will be no difference in postoperative outcomes between prophylactic and diseased groups, as the surgical approach would be comparable. ⋯ This study detected significant differences in postoperative complication rates between the diseased and prophylactic breasts following bilateral mastectomy and immediate breast implant reconstruction. Postoperative complications occurred more frequently in the diseased breast compared with low rates of complications in the contralateral prophylactic breast. This information is helpful for preoperative decision making, as surgeons and patients carefully weigh the additional risks of contralateral prophylactic procedure.