Over the years, the national screening program improved significantly the prognosis of patients diagnosed with BC to approximately 87% at 5 years.
These numbers indicate that BC is the primary tumor in the Italian population and in the female population, regardless of the age group ( 3). One in nine women will be diagnosed with Breast Cancer (BC) during their life time, and approximately more than 50,000 BC cases are diagnosed in Italy every year. In Italy, approximately 5000 women are diagnosed early with breast cancer (EBC) (infiltrating cancer <1 cm or DCIS) every year through organized national screening programs ( 2, 3). Breast cancer units throughout Italy have suffered significant restrictions and abatements in their clinical activity ( 2). In particular, all elective and health promotion activities were paused or profoundly reduced. Therefore, most of the national health system's resources, especially with regard to intensive care, were reallocated for the management of these complex patients. According to current data from the Ministry of Health, more than 120,000 people are or have been infected with the SARS-COV-2 virus and the fatality rate is greater than 11% ( 1). Italy was the first European country to be involved. Temporary recommendations are needed that could assist specialists in preventing COVID-19 infection and optimizing resources for diagnosis and treatment of BC patients.ĬOVID-19 was officially declared as a pandemic by the WHO on March 11, 2020. The aim of this study was to evaluate measures that could potentially reduce the clinical impact of COVID-19 on BC patients. Accordingly, Italian Breast Units and breast cancer (BC) screening programs scaled down significantly their activities. All elective and health promotion activities were reduced. Italy was the first European country to be strongly affected by this outbreak. COVID-19 has been officially declared as a pandemic by the WHO.
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