Pregnancy associated breast cancer

Abstract

Pregnancy-associated breast cancer is a diffi cult psychosocial and health problem for the patient, demanding an individual multidisciplinary treatment approach. Due to the need for aggressive oncological treatment with minimal adverse eff ects on the growing fetus, numerous studies are carried out to fi nd an optimal protocol, concerning the interest of both the mother and the child. Due to the physiological changes in the breasts in pregnancy, the diagnosis of breast cancer can be delayed and therefore patients have often higher clinical stage of the disease at initial presentation comparing to non-pregnant patients. Pregnancy termination due to breast cancer diagnosis had no eff ect on the prognosis of the patient, and longterm studies did not fi nd a higher incidence of malignant disease in children who were exposed to chemotherapy in utero compared to the general population. Although prognosis data of those patients is controversial, recent studies have not found a worse outcome compared to breast cancer unrelated to pregnancy.