Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on breast surgery and breast reconstruction in a Japanese university hospital setting

Introduction

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has spread worldwide, and the World Health Organization categorized it as a pandemic on March 11, 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic has had a major impact on hospitals throughout the globe and caused a collapse of medical care in many regions. Although Tokyo did not experience a medical collapse, several major hospitals were affected. There were no restrictions on hospital admission, and all hospital wards were free to admit patients. However, due to surgical restrictions, many surgeries were canceled and surgical admissions were postponed. Patient-initiated suppression of medical visits further decreased the number of patients who were admitted to the hospital.

On April 10, 2020, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government declared a state of emergency. In response, the hospital decided to strictly limit the number of surgical cases in accordance with the COVID-19 surgical triage guidelines issued by the American College of Surgeons. The operating room (OR) restrictions began on April 20, 2020. Only urgent operations were performed, except for those requiring only local anesthesia.

Before the pandemic, the department of breast surgery scheduled up to six surgeries per week, and approximately 250 to 300 breast cancer surgeries were performed annually. Breast surgeons decided to postpone all surgeries beginning in mid-April 2020. In June 2020, the restrictions were relaxed after the lifting of the national emergency declaration, and three operations per week were permitted. In August 2020, the OR schedule reverted to normal.

This study sought to determine how patients requiring surgery for breast cancer or breast reconstruction at the Tokyo Medical University Hospital were affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Publication History

Received: 19 June 2021

Accepted: 30 September 2021

Article published online:
02 June 2022

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