Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2020 Apr;180(3):695-706.
doi: 10.1007/s10549-020-05585-7. Epub 2020 Mar 11.

Clinico-pathologic features, treatment and outcomes of breast cancer during pregnancy or the post-partum period

Ciara C O'Sullivan  1   2 , Sheeba Irshad  1   3 , Zheyu Wang  1 , Zhuojun Tang  1 , Christopher Umbricht  1 , Gary L Rosner  1 , Mindy S Christianson  1 , Vered Stearns  1 , Karen Lisa Smith  4   5
Affiliations

Clinico-pathologic features, treatment and outcomes of breast cancer during pregnancy or the post-partum period

Ciara C O'Sullivan et al. Breast Cancer Res Treat. 2020 Apr.

Abstract

Purpose: Breast cancer during pregnancy (BC-P) or the first year post-partum (BC-PP) is rare and whether it differs from breast cancer (BC) in young women not associated with pregnancy is uncertain.

Methods: We queried our institutional database for BC-P and BC-PP cases and matched controls with BC not associated with pregnancy diagnosed between January 1, 1985 and December 31, 2013. We performed two parallel retrospective cohort studies evaluating clinico-pathologic features, treatment and outcomes for BC-P and BC-PP cases compared to their controls.

Results: In our population of 65 BC-P cases, 135 controls for BC-P cases, 75 BC-PP cases and 145 controls for BC-PP cases, high grade and estrogen receptor-negativity were more frequent in both case groups than their controls. Among those with stage I-III BC, patterns of local therapy were similar for both case groups and their controls, with the majority undergoing surgery and radiation. Over three-fourths of those with stage I-III BC received chemotherapy. BC-P cases tolerated chemotherapy well, with the majority receiving doxorubicin/cyclophosphamide every 3 weeks. On multivariate analyses of those with stage I-III BC, BC-P cases had non-significantly higher hazards of recurrence and death compared to their controls, while BC-PP cases had non-significantly lower hazards of recurrence and death compared to their controls.

Conclusion: BC-P and BC-PP were associated with adverse clinic-pathologic features in our population. However, we did not observe inferior outcomes for BC-P or BC-PP compared to controls, likely due to receipt of aggressive multi-modality therapy.

Keywords: Breast cancer; Post-partum; Pregnancy; Prognosis; Young women.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interest Ciara C. O’Sullivan has received research support from Lilly. Gary L. Rosner owns stock in Johnson & Johnson and Novartis. Gary L. Rosner is a member of an independent data monitoring committee for Novartis. Vered Stearns has received institutional research support from Abbvie, Biocept, Pfizer, Novartis, Medimmune, and Puma Biotechnology. Vered Stearns has served as a consultant for Iridium Therapeutics, Inc. Vered Stearns is a member of a data safety monitoring board for Immunomedics, Inc. Karen Lisa Smith’s spouse with stock ownership in ABT Labs and Abbvie. Karen Lisa Smith has received research support from CancerIncite and Pfizer. The following authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest: Sheeba Irshad, Zheyu Wang, Zhuojun Tang, Christopher Umbricht and Mindy S. Christianson.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Consolidated standards of reporting trials (CONSORT) diagram of study population
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Recurrence Free Survival (RFS) and Overall Survival (OS) (with 95% confidence intervals) for Cases with Stage I–III Pregnancy-Associated Breast Cancer and Their Controls. a RFS for women with breast cancer diagnosed during pregnancy (BC-P cases) and their controls, b OS for BC-P cases and their controls, c RFS for women with breast cancer diagnosed during the first year post-partum (BC-PP cases) and their controls, d OS for BC-PP cases and their controls
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Azim HA Jr, Santoro L, Russell-Edu W, Pentheroudakis G, Pavlidis N, Peccatori FA (2012) Prognosis of pregnancy-associated breast cancer: a meta-analysis of 30 studies. Cancer Treat Rev 38(7):834–842. 10.1016/j.ctrv.2012.06.004 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Hartman EK, Eslick GD (2016) The prognosis of women diagnosed with breast cancer before, during and after pregnancy: a meta-analysis. Breast Cancer Res Treat 160(2):347–360. 10.1007/s10549-016-3989-3 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Andersson TM, Johansson AL, Hsieh CC, Cnattingius S, Lambe M (2009) Increasing incidence of pregnancy-associated breast cancer in Sweden. Obstet Gynecol 114(3):568–572. 10.1097/AOG.0b013e3181b19154 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Moreira WB, Brandao EC, Soares AN, Lucena CE, Antunes CM (2010) Prognosis for patients diagnosed with pregnancy-associated breast cancer: a paired case-control study. Sao Paulo Med J 128(3):119–124 - PMC - PubMed
    1. Beadle BM, Woodward WA, Middleton LP, Tereffe W, Strom EA, Litton JK, Meric-Bernstam F, Theriault RL, Buchholz TA, Perkins GH (2009) The impact of pregnancy on breast cancer outcomes in women %3c or=35 years. Cancer 115(6):1174–1184. 10.1002/cncr.24165 - DOI - PMC - PubMed

MeSH terms