A new study from researchers at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center concluded that pregnancy has no impact on women who develop breast cancer.

 

Developing cancer during pregnancy is terrifying for the mom-to-be, as doctors have to take complicated decisions about how to treat the mother and not harm the baby. There are cases when women are recommended abortion so doctors can focus on treating the cancer.

 

The new study analyzed data from 652 women ages 35 and younger who were treated for breast cancer at MD Anderson from 1973 through 2006. Among participants, there were 104 women with pregnancy-associated cancers – 51 women had breast cancer during pregnancy, while the rest developed the illness within a year after.

 

The study found that rates of cancer recurrence, spread and survival after 10 years were practically the same among women with pregnancy-associated breast cancer and the other women with breast cancer, a finding that contradicts previous studies suggesting that women with pregnancy-associated breast cancer fared worse than non-pregnant breast cancer patients.

 

“If we can get them early, we can treat them aggressively and have good and promising outcomes for both woman and child,” said lead author of the study, Dr. Beth Beadle, a radiation oncologist at the University if Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center.

 

The study did not mention how well the children did after the mother’s treatment for breast cancer, but other research at MD Anderson has not found developmental problems in those children, Dr. Beadle said.

 

The findings of the study are detailed in the current issue of the journal Cancer.