COVID-19 or Not, Breast Cancer Treatment Must Go On

When at the end of last year Professor Traian Patrascu asked me to coordinate an issue of the journal "Chirurgia" dedicated to breast cancer, I was both surprised and intrigued. For two reasons: firstly it seemed to me so little time had passed since the previous issue about this disease and perhaps there weren't many new things to say and secondly I believed that the only topic worth discussing nowadays was the disease that overshadowed anything else: COVID-19. Nevertheless I realized that he was right. More than 3 years had passed since the previous issue and there were many updates related to this subject and COVID-19 or not, the treatment of breast cancer must continue. I am grateful to those who answered to my invitation to write an article. I was amazed by the huge number and the quality of the papers received. They were so numerous that we decided to have a supplement of the journal dedicated to breast cancer edited with the contribution of the Romanian Society of Breast Surgery and Oncology. The COVID-19 pandemic has affected the entire planet in almost every aspect of life, including the medical system. The treatment of other diseases, other than COVID-19, has in some way become secondary, at least for the time being. This had immediate repercussions and will inevitably have a long-term impact as well. Breast cancer patients suffered consequently. Screening, diagnosis, treatments including surgery and post therapeutic follow-ups have been profoundly affected by the pandemic.