TY - JOUR AU - Pelle, Fabio AU - Cappelli, Sonia AU - Graziano, Franco AU - Piarulli, Loredana AU - Cavicchi, Flavia AU - Magagnano, Domenico AU - De Luca, Assunta AU - De Vita, Roy AU - Pozzi, Marcello AU - Costantini, Maurizio AU - Varanese, Antonio AU - Panimolle, Massimo AU - Gullo, Pietro Paolo AU - Barba, Maddalena AU - Vici, Patrizia AU - Vizza, Enrico AU - Cognetti, Francesco AU - Sanguineti, Giuseppe AU - Saracca, Elena AU - Ciliberto, Gennaro AU - Botti, Claudio PY - 2020 DA - 2020/08/27 TI - Breast cancer surgery during the Covid-19 pandemic: a monocentre experience from the Regina Elena National Cancer Institute of Rome JO - Journal of Experimental & Clinical Cancer Research SP - 171 VL - 39 IS - 1 AB - The Covid-19 pandemic has challenged hard the national health systems worldwide. According to the national policy issued in March 2020 in response to the evolving Covid-19 pandemic, several hospitals were re-configured as Covid-19 centers and elective surgery procedures were rescheduled according to the most recent recommendations. In addition, Covid-19 protected cancer hubs were established, including the Regina Elena National Cancer Institute of Rome, Central Italy. At our Institute, the Breast Surgery Department continued working under the sign of a multidisciplinary approach. The number of professional figures involved in case evaluation was reduced to a minimum and interactions took place in the full respect of the required safety measures. Treatments for benign disease, pure prophylactic surgery and elective reconstructive procedures were all postponed and priority was assigned to the histologically-proven malignant breast tumors and highly suspicious lesions. From March 15th though April 30th 2020, we treated a total of 79 patients. This number is fully consistent with the average quantitative standards reached by our Department under ordinary circumstances. Patients were mostly discharged the day after surgery and none was readmitted due to surgery-related late complications. More generally, post-operative complications rates were unexpectedly low, particularly in light of the relatively high number of reconstructive procedures performed in this emergency situation. A strict follow up was performed based on the close contact with the surgical staff by telephone, messaging apps and telemedicine. SN - 1756-9966 UR - https://doi.org/10.1186/s13046-020-01683-y DO - 10.1186/s13046-020-01683-y ID - Pelle2020 ER -