Evaluation of lymph node status in cancer patients during pandemic period

Background. This is a clinicopathological study comparing lymph node involvement in breast carcinomas before and during the COVID-19 period. During the pandemic, access to healthcare was limited, which led to a delay in the diagnosis and treatment of malignant tumors, which often presented in advanced stages, with lymph node metastases. Methods. A retrospective study was performed on 40 patients with carcinomas treated by surgical excision of the tumor combined with lymph node resection. Histopathological examination of lymph nodes was performed to detect malignant metastases, and the mean lymph node positivity rate was calculated. Odds ratio was used to measure the association between pre covid era and covid era (p value