Impacts of COVID-19 Pandemic on Breast Imaging Examinations

Abstract

Objectives: To investigate breast imaging case number changes during the COVID-19 pandemic in comparison tosame time periods in the years of 2019 and 2020 in our tertiary referral hospital.Methods: Between April 2019 to July 2019 and between April 2020 to July 2020, total numbers for mammography,breast ultrasound and breast MRI cases that were obtained in breast imaging center of our hospital were noted for eachmonth. Descriptive statistics of the data consisted of monthly case numbers for each breast imaging modality. Percentage changes of overall cases numbers and monthly case numbers for each breast imaging modality were calculated forthe determined time periods (April to July) between the years of 2019 and 2020.Results: In April to July 2020, there was an apparent decline in case numbers for each breast imaging modality whencompared to same timespan in 2019. The percentage decreases in overall case numbers for breast imaging modalitiesvaried between 41.7% to 64.4%. Among breast imaging modalities, the sharpest decline in case numbers was detectedon mammography.Conclusion: The current study revealed that COVID-19 pandemic caused a marked decrease in all breast imaging casevolumes particularly in the first two months of the pandemic