Medical Articles

Informative article about Cancer in Pregnancy with Dr. Frederic Amant, Professor, Dept. of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Leuven in Belgium. By Tony Kirby in The Lancet, February 2012.

The current trend is to preserve pregnancy in women diagnosed with cervical or ovarian cancer whenever feasible, according to a recent review that explored the issues around gynecologic cancers (Lancet. 2012;379:558-569).

Pregnancy-associated breast cancer (PABC) is defined as breast cancer occurring anytime during gestation, lactation or within one year after delivery. The optimal management of pregnant women with breast cancer is challenging and not well established; the main concern is the effect of the drugs on the developing fetus and long-term complications after in utero exposure to anti-cancer drugs.

Having breast cancer during pregnancy is very rare. But more and more women are choosing to have children later in life, and the risk of breast cancer goes up as women get older. Because of this, doctors expect there will be more cases of breast cancer during pregnancy in the future.

Current estimates range anywhere from 1 in every 1,000 to 1 in every 10,000 pregnant women diagnosed with breast cancer every year. And breast cancer is the most common type of cancer found during pregnancy, while breastfeeding, or within the first year of delivery. You may hear this called gestational breast cancer or pregnancy-associated breast cancer (PABC). The special concerns of breast cancer during pregnancy are reviewed here.

Information about treating cancer during pregnancy. Article, by Stacy Simon, located on the American Cancer Society website.