AB017. SOH23ABS_195. Outcomes of B3 breast lesions during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic
Clinical Breast Session

AB017. SOH23ABS_195. Outcomes of B3 breast lesions during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic

Gerard Feeney1, Uchechukwu Alanza1, Natasha Shafique1, Cressida Brennan2, Juliette Buckley1, Ann Merrigan1, Shona Tormey1, Chwanrow Baban1

1University Hospital Limerick, Department of General Surgery, Dooradoyle, Limerick, Ireland; 2University Hospital Limerick, Department of Radiology, Dooradoyle, Limerick, Ireland

Background: Classification plays an integral role in the diagnosis and management of breast cancer. Breast imaging is classified in accordance with the British Society of Breast Radiologists (BSBR). B3 refers to lesions that demonstrate intermediate malignancy features. Lesions that are highly suspicious of malignancy are graded as B5. The coronavirus disease (COVID) pandemic has greatly impacted upon the provision of essential diagnostic services in healthcare. Our aim was to investigate outcomes of B3 lesions before and after the COVID-19 pandemic in our institution.

Methods: Retrospective database analysis of B3 lesions identified before (2019 to 2020) and after COVID (2020 to 2021) pandemic was performed. Histology reports were interrogated to assess whether lesions were upgraded to malignant.

Results: Overall, 37 B3 lesions were detected in the pre-COVID period; 33 went onto undergo diagnostic excision with 5 (13.5%) receiving upgrade to B5 status. Three of these upgraded patients initially presented with B3b disease. In the COVID time period there were 48 B3 lesions detected. Of these lesions, 45 went on to have diagnostic excisions with 7 patients (14.5%) being upgraded to B5. Of the upgraded patients, 4 were initially graded as B3b.

Conclusions: B3 lesions encompass a not insignificant number of patients who go on to have upgraded disease following diagnostic excision. Patients with B3b lesions are the most likely to have malignant features on diagnostic excision. Thus, the prompt identification and management of these patients is essential in providing optimal patient outcomes. Our study demonstrates that identification of B3 lesions was not affected by the COVID pandemic.

Keywords: Breast cancer; breast surgery; coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19); diagnostic excision; radiology

Acknowledgments

Funding: None.

Footnote

Conflicts of Interest: The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.

Ethical Statement: The authors are accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.

Open Access Statement: This is an Open Access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0), which permits the non-commercial replication and distribution of the article with the strict proviso that no changes or edits are made and the original work is properly cited (including links to both the formal publication through the relevant DOI and the license). See: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/.

doi: 10.21037/map-23-ab017
Cite this abstract as: Feeney G, Alanza U, Shafique N, Brennan C, Buckley J, Merrigan A, Tormey S, Baban C. AB017. SOH23ABS_195. Outcomes of B3 breast lesions during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Mesentery Peritoneum 2023;7:AB017.

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