Overall survival from breast cancer in women pregnant or lactating at or after diagnosis

Abstract

The effect of concurrent or subsequent pregnancy or lactation has been studied in women with breast cancer to determine if these variables influence prognosis. Information was collected from 382 women potentially capable of bearing children, aged less than 45 years, in the Auckland Breast Cancer Study Group data file, a consecutive series of women diagnosed with breast cancer from 1976 to 1985, with a median follow-up of 10.2 years. The prevalence of both pregnancy at diagnosis and lactation at diagnosis was 2.6%. The incidence of pregnancy subsequent to diagnosis was 3.9%. Women pregnant at the time of breast cancer diagnosis had significantly more advanced disease than non-pregnant patients, and there was a similar trend for women lactating at diagnosis. Overall survival in these women was poor compared with the non-pregnant and nonlactating groups; only 2 of 10 pregnant patients and 0 of 10 lactating patients survived more than I 2 years. The adverse outcome for women lactating at diagnosis of their breast cancer persisted despite allowance for nodal status, tumour size and age. However, survival was similar between pregnant and non-pregnant patients when these variables were taken into account. No significant differences in survival were found between those women who had pregnancies subsequent to diagnosis of breast cancer and breast cancer patients who did not become pregnant.o 1996 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Pregnancy and breast cancer: a population-based study

“…The reported incidence of pregnancy-associated (PA) breast cancer, usually defined as breast cancer diagnosed during pregnancy or within the first year post-partum (i.e. during lactation), is 0.2-3.8% [28,44]. A higher prevalence of PA breast cancer is to be expected in the future.…”

Alternatively Activated Macrophages and Collagen Remodeling Characterize the Postpartum Involuting Mammary Gland across Species

“…6 -8 Epidemiological data identify women whose breast cancer is diagnosed postpartum, rather than during pregnancy, as having the worst outcomes. [7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14] Further, when breast cancer patients were matched for known prognostic indicators, the postpartum window proved to be an independent factor for metastasis, whereas a diagnosis during pregnancy did not. 11,14,15 We have proposed the involution-hypothesis to account for the high metastatic oc-currence of PABC diagnosed during the postpartum window.…”

Pregnancy-associated Breast Cancer

“…Fyziologické změny v prsní žláze spojené s těhotenstvím zhoršují objektivní vyšet ření prsu, ale i mammografický nález. V důsledku to obvykle znamená opož dění dia gnózy o dva měsíce a déle [5]. Znamená to také zvýšené riziko posti žení axilárních uzlin, každý měsíc zvy šuje toto riziko o 1-2 %.…”