Researchers evaluated the prognosis and pregnancy outcomes of pregnancy-associated breast cancer, a rare disease with increasing incidence. Researchers assessed data from 63 pregnancy-associated breast cancer patients and 126 age-matched non- pregnancy-associated breast cancer patients.
Breast cancer is the most common malignancy among women, with nearly 255,000 cases diagnosed annually in the USA.
Since pregnancy-associated breast cancer patients are diagnosed at a more advanced tumor stage, they had worse progression-free survival and breast cancer-specific survival compared with non- pregnancy-associated breast cancer patients. There were 15 patients with breast cancer diagnosed during pregnancy, of whom 11 voluntarily continued their pregnancy. There were no observed birth defects in the newborns, either in the 5 patients who received chemotherapy or in the 6 patients who did not receive chemotherapy during pregnancy. In pregnancy-associated breast cancer patients, there was no risk of worse prognosis identified with pregnancy at diagnosis or within 1 year after delivery. There were also no effects on the maternal outcomes or neonatal outcomes of patients diagnosed with breast cancer during pregnancy following chemotherapy in the second and third trimesters.
The average risk for a woman to develop breast cancer in the United States is approximately 13%.
Finally, the authors did not observe any adverse effects on the patients’ physiological state during pregnancy.
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The Women’s Cancer Research Foundation (WCRF) is one of the most active research organizations in the nation. We are dedicated to studying and evaluating novel treatments for women afflicted with breast, ovarian, endometrial, and cervical cancers. The WCRF persistently endeavors to make a difference in women’s lives by offering them hope, strength, and progress.
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