Pregnancy Does Not Increase Risk Of Breast Cancer Recurrence, Death, Study Says

Main Category: Breast Cancer
Also Included In: Pregnancy / Obstetrics
Article Date: 11 Feb 2009 - 4:00 PDT

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Pregnant women who develop breast cancer have the same risks as other young breast cancer patients that their cancer will recur, spread or lead to death, according to a study published Monday in the journal Cancer, the AP/Arizona Daily Star reports. The study, which is the largest to examine the impact of breast cancer on currently or recently pregnant women, refutes findings from earlier, smaller studies that suggested pregnancy increased risks associated with breast cancer.

For the study, researchers examined data from 652 women ages 35 and younger who received breast cancer treatment at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center between 1973 and 2006. They focused on 104 women with pregnancy-associated cancers, including 51 who developed breast cancer during pregnancy and 53 who developed breast cancer within one year after pregnancy. After examining disease progression for 10 years after the cancer diagnosis, the researchers determined that the rates of cancer recurrence, cancer spread and survival were about the same for women with pregnancy-associated breast cancers and women with non-pregnancy associated cancers. The study also found that tumors were more likely to be at an advanced stage among pregnant women. However, this could be because women and their physicians attributed breast changes to pregnancy or breastfeeding, the researchers said. In addition, the study found no evidence that tumors grew faster among pregnant women, according to Beth Beadle, a radiation oncologist at the cancer center. Breast cancer is often more aggressive among younger women, and survival rates are significantly lower, Beadle said.

According to the AP/Star, treating pregnant women who have breast cancer poses several challenges, and some physicians discuss the option of abortion so treatment can focus on the woman. Radiation, which is used for mammography and many breast cancer treatments, can be harmful to fetuses. However, physicians can use ultrasounds to look for breast tumors, and surgery and certain types of chemotherapy can treat breast cancer without harming the fetus. Beadle said that if physicians detect tumors early, they can "treat them aggressively and have good and promising outcomes for both woman and child." Ruth O'Regan, associate professor at Emory University's Winship Cancer Center, said treating pregnant women is a complicated situation that depends on the cancer's severity and the amount of time the woman has been pregnant (Stobbe, AP/Arizona Daily Star, 2/9).

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