%0 Journal Article %A GIANLUCA VANNI %A MARCO MATERAZZO %A MARCO PELLICCIARO %A SARA INGALLINELLA %A MAURIZIO RHO %A FRANCESCA SANTORI %A MARIA COTESTA %A JONATHAN CASPI %A ANNA MAKAROVA %A CHIARA ADRIANA PISTOLESE %A ORESTE CLAUDIO BUONOMO %T Breast Cancer and COVID-19: The Effect of Fear on Patients' Decision-making Process %D 2020 %R 10.21873/invivo.11957 %J In Vivo %P 1651-1659 %V 34 %N 3 suppl %X Background/Aim: Coronavirus-19 (COVID-19) pandemic outbreak is currently having a huge impact on medical resource allocation. Breast Cancer (BC) patients are concerned both with BC treatment and COVID-19. This study aimed to estimate the impact of anxiety among patients, caused by the spreading of COVID-19. Patients and Methods: Between the 16th of January and the 20th of March 2020, we retrospectively enrolled 160 patients. Eighty-two patients with a suspected breast lesion (SBL) were divided into two groups: PRE-COVID-19-SBL and POST-COVID-19-SBL. Seventy-eight BC patients were divided into PRE-COVID-19-BC and POST-COVID-19-BC. Patient characteristics including age, marital status, SBL/BC diameter, personal and family history of BC, clinical stage and molecular subtype were recorded. Procedure Refusal (PR) and Surgical Refusal (SR) were also recorded with their reason. Results: BC and SBL analysis showed no difference in pre-treatment characteristics (p>0.05). Both POST-COVID-19-SBL and POST-COVID-19-BC groups showed higher rates of PR and SR (p=0.0208, p=0.0065 respectively). Infection risk represented primary reason for refusal among POST-COVID-19 patients. Conclusion: COVID-19-related anxiety could affect patients' decision-making process. %U https://iv.iiarjournals.org/content/invivo/34/3_suppl/1651.full.pdf