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Abstract

In Ireland there is a free national screening service for breast cancer called BreastCheck. BreastCheck invites women aged fifty to sixty-nine to have screening mammograms once every two years to detect any densities in their breast mammogram which could indicate breast cancer. If densities are seen on a mammogram a breast core is sampled and sent to a histopathology laboratory where a part of the tissue is examined by a consultant pathologist using a microscope. Further tests can then be performed on this sample if it is diagnosed as breast cancer. Tests include immunohistochemistry and dual in-situ hybridisation (DISH). BreastCheck aims to detect breast cancer early so that patients can be given treatment before their breast cancer becomes more advanced improving the patient’s prognosis.

During the COVID-19 pandemic BreastCheck was paused resulting in no patients being screened for breast cancer. As a result of the lack of screening patients with early-stage breast cancer were not diagnosed until their cancer became more advanced. A retrospective study of HER-2 status of breast biopsies in CUH was conducted. This data was compared to published data from similar studies of other centres. The aim of this study was to conduct a clinical audit of the breast cancer service in histopathology in CUH and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The number of women screened for breast cancer in Ireland decreased during the pandemic. This study found that number of breast core specimens received decreased during the pandemic and the number of HER-2 positive cases increased during the pandemic. The increase in HER-2 positive breast cancer specimens was similar to studies in other centres around the world.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Publisher

Munster Technological University

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