Clinical trial NCT04929964: COVID-19 Pandemic: Effect on Management of Patients With Breast Cancer
Official title: COVID 19 Pandemic: Effect on Management of Patients With Breast Cancer; Single Center Study
Study type: OBSERVATIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Conditions: Covid19
Breast Cancer Stage
Isolation, Social
Locally Advanced Breast Cancer
Keywords: Breast Cancer
Covid-19
Modified Radical Mastectomy
Breast Conservation Surgery
Lead sponsor: Bahria University
Sponsor class: OTHER
First posted: 2021-06-18
Enrollment: 87
Sex: FEMALE
Minimum age (years): 25
Maximum age (years): 71
Standard ages: ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: no
Observational model: CASE_ONLY
Time perspective: OTHER
Sampling method: NON_PROBABILITY_SAMPLE
Study population: Patient's data of all operated cases for suspicious lump breast (abnormal findings on ultrasound and mammogram, BIRAD III or above and abnormal FNAC results;C3 or above) from January1,2020 to 31 January 2021was retrieved. Out of these only those patients were included in whom the diagnosis of breast cancer was confirmed on histo-pathological examination. Patients who had already had their surgery pre covid (December 2019), were excluded. Data were collected on standard pre-designed questionnaire and from paper documents retrieved from patient records.

All patients who were admitted and underwent pre anesthesia assessment underwent COVID testing according to the protocol.

Brief summary: The objective was to find out the impact of COVID-19 on stage of breast cancer at presentation and its effects on overall onco-surgical management. The investigator carried out this research to see the presenting stage of breast cancer in the participants in this pandemic and correlate its effect on stage of breast cancer and upstaging of disease

Detailed description: This retrospective observational study was conducted at department of surgery PNS Shifa hospital Karachi after obtaining permission from ethical review committee. Participant's data of all operated cases for suspicious lump breast (abnormal findings on ultrasound and mammogram, BIRAD III or above and abnormal FNAC results;C3 or above) from January1,2020 to 31 January 2021 was retrieved. Out of these only those participants were included in whom the diagnosis of breast cancer was confirmed on histo-pathological examination. Participants who had already had their surgery pre covid (December 2019), were excluded. Data were collected on standard pre-designed questionnaire and from paper documents retrieved from patient records. Participant presentation time was calculated as the time interval between the appearance of the first symptoms of breast cancer (day 0) and the date of initial presentation to hospital by patient and consultation for breast symptoms. Time taken for start of treatment was calculated by counting number of days from the first presentation day to hospital until the date when definitive treatment for Carcinoma Breast was initiated (chemo/radio/surgery). Time duration for definitive surgery was counted from the day of first presentation to the hospital till the date surgery was conducted(modified radical mastectomy (MRM)/breast conserving surgery (BCS)/toilet mastectomy).

Presentation 'Delay' was defined as a patient reporting to the hospital for medical advice 30 days after noticing the first possible symptoms of breast cancer while time taken for start of treatment was calculated form time of first presentation to hospital (day 0) till the first day of start of definitive first treatment for breast cancer. The investigator labelled delay in treatment if it was initiated later than 62days .

The questionnaire inquired about the symptoms, date of presentation of the first symptoms, date of first reporting to hospital, reasons for the delayed presentation.

All patients who were admitted and underwent pre anesthesia assessment underwent COVID testing according to the protocol. If the patient turned out COVID positive, their symptoms were noted and the COVID team (infectious disease department) was notified. The quarantine protocol at investigating hospital was, complete isolation for 14 days with one PCR-negative report after completing quarantine, with no residual respiratory symptoms of cough, fever, and shortness of breath. This protocol was followed for all elective breast surgery patients admitted in the hospital. All COVID-positive patients underwent the same treatment protocol as non-COVID patients with regards to management of breast cancer. Patients with early breast cancer (upto stage 2A) underwent modified radical mastectomy/breast conservative surgery first, followed by chemotherapy/radiotherapy, locally advanced cases (stage 2B and above) had neo-adjuvant treatment first followed by surgery, and advanced cases(stage 4/metastatic) underwent palliative treatment.

All the data obtained were analyzed using IBM SPSS 23.0. Descriptive statistics like age were presented as range and means. Categorical data were analyzed using fisher exact test and t-test was applied to numerical data. In all cases, a 95% confidence interval was used and p value \<0.05 was considered significant.

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* diagnosis of breast cancer confirmed on histo-pathological examination

Exclusion Criteria:

* Patients who had already had their surgery pre covid (December 2019)

Primary outcomes:
measure: Duration of delay in presentation to hospital
timeFrame: 18 months
measure: Duration of delay in definitive treatment
timeFrame: 18 months
measure: Cancer upstaging
timeFrame: 18 months
Secondary outcomes:
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Karachi
country: Pakistan
facility: Bahria University Medical and Dental College Karachi
state: Sindh
Study officials:
affiliation: PNS Shifa Hospital Karachi , HOD department of Surgery
name: Waseem Ahmad Khan, MBBS, FCPS
role: STUDY_CHAIR
References:
citation: Gulzar F, Akhtar MS, Sadiq R, Bashir S, Jamil S, Baig SM. Identifying the reasons for delayed presentation of Pakistani breast cancer patients at a tertiary care hospital. Cancer Manag Res. 2019 Jan 29;11:1087-1096. doi: 10.2147/CMAR.S180388. eCollection 2019.
citation: Khan MA, Shafique S, Khan MT, Shahzad MF, Iqbal S. Presentation delay in breast cancer patients, identifying the barriers in North Pakistan. Asian Pac J Cancer Prev. 2015;16(1):377-80. doi: 10.7314/apjcp.2015.16.1.377.
citation: Vuagnat P, Frelaut M, Ramtohul T, Basse C, Diakite S, Noret A, Bellesoeur A, Servois V, Hequet D, Laas E, Kirova Y, Cabel L, Pierga JY; Institut Curie Breast Cancer and COVID Group; Bozec L, Paoletti X, Cottu P, Bidard FC. COVID-19 in breast cancer patients: a cohort at the Institut Curie hospitals in the Paris area. Breast Cancer Res. 2020 May 28;22(1):55. doi: 10.1186/s13058-020-01293-8.
citation: Elghazawy H, Bakkach J, Zaghloul MS, Abusanad A, Hussein MM, Alorabi M, Eldin NB, Helal T, Zaghloul TM, Venkatesulu BP, Elghazaly H, Al-Sukhun S. Implementation of breast cancer continuum of care in low- and middle-income countries during the COVID-19 pandemic. Future Oncol. 2020 Nov;16(31):2551-2567. doi: 10.2217/fon-2020-0574. Epub 2020 Jul 27.