University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center: However, the largest single-institution study to look at pregnant breast cancer patients finds that women with Pregnancy Associated Breast Cancer (PABC), are more likely to be diagnosed later with advanced stages of the disease and, thus, have necessary treatment delayed.
It's estimated that up to 3.8 percent of pregnancies are complicated by breast cancer, and approximately 10 percent of breast cancer patients under age 40 develop the disease during pregnancy, said the researchers.
"Because we see care for large volume of patients who are young, as well as those who are young and pregnant, we wanted to see if there was something additive going on that is attributed to pregnancy, or if the response to treatment and behavior of the disease is a phenomenon of young age itself," said Perkins, the study's senior author.
M. D. Anderson has a long history of being at the forefront of treating pregnant women for breast cancer. In 1992, Richard Theriault, D.O., professor in the Department of Breast Medical Oncology, opened the first protocol examining a chemotherapeutic regimen for the management of these patients. He later published seminal studies proving that the regimen was safe for both pregnant mother and unborn child; it has since been adopted as the standard of care. M. D. Anderson has the largest active registry in the world following the health of pregnant breast cancer patients and their children.
Journal reference:
Beth M. Beadle, Wendy A. Woodward, Lavinia P. Middleton, Welela Tereffe, Eric A. Strom, Jennifer K. Litton, Funda Meric-Bernstam, Richard L. Theriault, Thomas A. Buchholz, and George H. Perkins. The impact of pregnancy on breast cancer outcomes in women %u226435 years old. Cancer, Online: February 09, 2009; Print Issue Date: March 15, 2009. DOI: 10.1002/cncr.24165
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US News and World Report has 5 questions you should ask related to Pregnancy Associated Breast Cancer
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