Breast Cancer And Pregnancy

M&B breaks down the implications, concerns, diagnosis and treatment during pregnancy.

- Dr.Vijay Agarwal & Dr.N.Aditya Murali

Breast cancer is the commonest cancer in women in India. According to research carried out by Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), breast cancer affects 25 of 100,000 Indian women and can be as high as 34 in 100,000 in Bengaluru itself. It occurs almost 10 years earlier in India compared to the west, a significant proportion of them being premenopausal women of childbearing age. According to statistics from the UK, 1.3 to 2.4 percent breast cancers are seen in per 100,000 live births but can increase to 10 to 20 per cent if breast cancer occurs in women aged less than 30 years. Amongst pregnant women, breast cancer is the commonest cancer seen. Pregnancy-associated breast cancer is defined as breast cancer occurs when a woman is either pregnant or within a year after delivery.

PREGNANCY AND BREAST CANCER CO-RELATION

Breast cancer and pregnancy have always had a longstanding relationship and has been a focus of research. Having multiple pregnancies, early pregnancy (age <30 years) and breastfeeding for over one year reduce the chances of women developing breast cancer. Contrarily, having no pregnancies, late pregnancies and no or very little breastfeeding increases the chances of women developing breast cancer. This is essentially due to estrogen, naturally occurring hormone in the body. Women, who have multiple pregnancies starting early on in their life, and breastfeed their babies for longer, have reduced lifetime levels of estrogen in their body thereby reducing the risk of cancer.

CHALLENGES FACED WHILE TREATING BREAST CANCER DURING PREGNANCY