Prioritizing patients for breast cancer surgery during COVID-19

Patients with cancer consistently demonstrate poorer post-COVID-19 infection outcomes, and as a result of the pandemic, cancer services within the UK have shifted to protect patient survival. In the breast cancer field, the surgical management of primary breast cancer has also been affected, with many ER+ HER2- patients being deferred from surgery to neoadjuvant endocrine therapy due to safety concerns and resource availability. Therefore, the identification of primary breast cancer patients at greater need for surgical intervention is of great importance.

In this podcast, Peter Barry MBBS (Hons), MPhil, FRACS, Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK, discusses a recent publication in npj Breast Cancer evaluating an evidence-based treatment algorithm designed to identify patients with post-menopausal primary ER+ HER2- breast cancer who should be prioritized for surgery or, based on ER and progesterone receptor status at diagnosis, be appropriate for neoadjuvant endocrine therapy.

This interview was recorded via an online conference call with The Video Journal of Oncology (VJOncology).

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