Breast cancer and pregnancy. Review of the literature
Dequanter, D.; Hertens, D.; Veys, I.; Nogaret, J.M.
Gynecologie Obstetrique and Fertilite 29(1): 9-14
2001
ISSN/ISBN: 1297-9589 PMID: 11217201 Document Number: 526282
The pregnancy-associated breast cancer seems to have become increasingly common with a high frequency of advanced breast cancer with axillary node metastases and so associated with poor prognosis. This review examines the diagnosis, prognosis, and management of cancer during pregnancy; both in terms of the cancer's effect on the pregnancy, and the pregnancy's effect on the cancer. Diagnostic procedures (breast sonography) and excisional biopsies are necessary to reduce the delay of several months or more after discovery of a mass and before treatment. No histological difference, between patients with pregnancy-associated breast cancer and patients with non-pregnancy-associated breast cancer, was diagnosed. The treatment is linked to the effects of adjuvant therapy on the fetus.