Pregnancy After Breast Cancer

Ivanhoe Newswire
Friday, December 8, 2006; 12:00 AM

(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Young women who are diagnosed with breast cancer do not have to wait the recommended two years after treatment to conceive, according to a new study.

For various reasons, women of childbearing age who are diagnosed with breast cancer often want to have a baby after treatment. The current medical advice is to wait two years after treatment before attempting to conceive. Researchers in Western Australia report there is no published data to support this advice.

For the study, researchers identified 123 women who were diagnosed with breast cancer and had at least one pregnancy after their diagnosis. They report half of the women got pregnant within two years of their diagnosis. Out of these 62 pregnancies, 29 were ended with an abortion, six ended with a miscarriage, and 27 women gave birth.

Study authors found women who got pregnant had improved overall survival compared to women who did not get pregnant. The protective effect was seen in women who waited at least six months to get pregnant but was stronger for women who waited until two years after treatment.

Researchers conclude breast cancer patients with localized disease and good prognosis should not be told to wait two years. However, women should still consider the two-year recommendation valid if they are still receiving treatment or have systemic disease at diagnosis.

This article was reported by Ivanhoe.com, who offers Medical Alerts by e-mail every day of the week. To subscribe, go to: http://www.ivanhoe.com/newsalert/.

SOURCE: The British Medical Journal, published online Dec. 7, 2006