Study: Pregnancy doesn't worsen breast cancer
ATLANTA - Pregnant women who develop breast cancer do not face a greater likelihood of death or a recurrence of cancer than other young breast-cancer patients, a new study has found.
ATLANTA - Pregnant women who develop breast cancer do not face a greater likelihood of death or a recurrence of cancer than other young breast-cancer patients, a new study has found.
The study is one of the largest to investigate whether breast cancer affects pregnant and recently pregnant women more severely than other women. It contradicts some earlier, smaller studies that suggested maternity made things worse.
"If we can get them early, we can treat them aggressively and have good and promising outcomes for both woman and child," said the study's lead author, Beth Beadle of the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center.
The Houston hospital has the world's largest registry of pregnant breast-cancer patients and their children.
Frightening for any woman, a breast-cancer diagnosis is particularly terrifying for a pregnant woman. It presents complicated decisions about how to treat the mother without harming the fetus. Some doctors recommend abortion so they can focus on treating the mother.
In the new study, being published today in the journal Cancer, researchers analyzed data from 652 women ages 35 and younger who were treated for breast cancer at M.D. Anderson from 1973 through 2006.
The study group included 51 women who had breast cancer during pregnancy, and 53 who developed the illness within a year afterward.
The rates of cancer recurrence, cancer spread and survival were about the same for the women with pregnancy-associated breast cancers as they were for the other women, the researchers found. The researchers calculated the rates for 10 years after the cancer diagnosis.
The women who were pregnant had tumors at a more advanced stage, probably because the women and their doctors may have discounted breast changes, attributing them to breast-feeding or pregnancy, the researchers said they believed.
Generally, breast cancers are more aggressive in younger women, and survival rates are significantly lower. While age may be a factor, it is not clear that pregnancy is: There was no evidence in the new study that tumors grew faster in the pregnant women, said Beadle, a radiation oncologist.
One success story was Emily Behrend, 35, who gave birth to a healthy girl, her first child, in the spring.
Behrend was diagnosed roughly four months into her pregnancy. On New Year's Day 2008, she felt a lump at the top of her right breast. "It didn't feel like your typical swollen gland," said Behrend, a tax auditor from Tomball, Texas.
Doctors diagnosed cancer. She talked to several physicians about what to do, including one who suggested an abortion. "That was never an option for me," Behrend said.
She went to M.D. Anderson, where surgeons removed the lump. She also had three chemotherapy treatments before she gave birth in May. Her daughter, Julia Grace, was healthy, with a full head of blond hair.
"I looked for that right away," said Behrend, who had lost her hair during the chemotherapy.
Behrend underwent additional chemotherapy after the birth, and her cancer is in remission. She called the whole experience "a blessing."
Her advice to other pregnant women: Don't be shy about signs you think might be related to breast cancer. "I would definitely ask your doctor," she said.
