Real-World Data Analysis of Pregnancy-Associated Breast Cancer at a Tertiary-Level Hospital in Romania

Abstract

Background and objectives: Breast cancer is among the most common cancer types encountered during pregnancy. Here, we aimed to describe the characteristics, management, and outcomes of women with pregnancy-associated breast cancer at a tertiary-level hospital in Romania. Material and Methods: We retrospectively and prospectively collected demographic, oncological, and obstetrical data for women diagnosed with cancer during pregnancy, and who elected to continue their pregnancy, between June 2012 and June 2020. Complete data were obtained regarding family and personal medical history and risks factors, cancer diagnosis and staging, clinical and pathological features (including histology and immunohistochemistry), multimodal cancer treatment, pregnancy management (fetal ultrasounds, childbirth, and postpartum data), and infant development and clinical evolution up to 2020. Cancer therapy was administered following national guidelines and institutional protocols and regimens developed for non-pregnant patients, including surgery and chemotherapy, while avoiding radiotherapy during pregnancy. Results: At diagnosis, 16.67% of patients were in an advanced/metastatic stage, while 75% were in early operable stages. However, the latter patients underwent neoadjuvant chemotherapy rather than up-front surgery due to aggressive tumor biology (triple negative, multifocal, or HER2+). No patient achieved complete pathological remission, but only one patient relapsed. No recurrence was recorded within 12 months among early-stage patients. Conclusions: In this contemporary assessment of real-world treatment patterns and outcomes among patients with pregnancy-associated breast cancer, our findings were generally consistent with globally observed treatment outcomes, underscoring the need for a multidisciplinary team and reference centers.

Womenʼs assessment of the quality of hospital‐based perinatal care by mode of birth in Romania during the COVID‐19 pandemic: Results from the IMAgiNE EURO study

“…3 Several factors may be contributing to this high average rate of cesarean in Romania: few centers provide prenatal parental education, relatively high number of births in private clinics, low number of midwives, limited autonomy of midwives in the clinical decision process, women's preferences, 4 and increasing maternal age. 5,6 Although reducing the cesarean rate is recognized as a national priority, some of the current regulations (e.g., reimbursing hospitals with higher rates of cesarean compared with spontaneous vaginal birth [SVB]) may actually be a serious barrier to reducing the cesarean rate in Romania. 7 There is a lack of studies reporting maternal perceptions of quality of health care received in Romania.…”

State-of-the-Art Review of Pregnancy-Related Psoriasis

“…is associated with prognosis factors similar to those reported among breast cancer (B.C.) patients over maternal age [ 21 , 22 ], pregnancy may affect the expression of autoimmune disease and autoimmune disease and cytokines imbalance may interfere with trophoblast and placental development [ 8 , 23 ]. Also, dendritic and T cells” immune response to fetal semi-allograft are much more complicated than their response after the transplanted allograft [ 24 ].…”