Breast cancer diagnosis during pregnancy
The most common cancer that occurs during pregnancy is that of the breast as it affects at least 1 in 3000 pregnant women. The fact that more women are opting to delay childbirth until they get to their 30’s further increases the number of women suffering from breast cancer during pregnancy.
When a woman is pregnant the breasts undergo various changes that can make it more difficult to diagnose, monitor and treat breast cancer. Medical researchers have not yet done adequate clinical trials and research of how to deal with breast cancer in pregnant women and thus most of the data they use to guide treatments only relies on case-control studies, case reports and retrospective cohort descriptions.
During pregnancy, breast cancer is known to be one of the most occurring malignancies that bring unwanted complications. Also, 10-20% of all cancers are detected during pregnancy or during the 1st postpartum year of pregnancy in women who are 30 years of age and below.
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Post pregnancy and breast cancer risk
There is an increased risk of developing breast cancer after delivery especially during the first 3-10 years after giving birth despite the known long-term protective benefits of being pregnant. Several studies that were done on separate populations suggest that family history can be one of the risk factors associated with breast cancer.
This increase in risk is linked to a tumor suppressor gene known as BRCA that causes hundreds of different types of mutations most of which are harmful while some have no impact at all. This BRCA gene is classified into two: BRCA1 and BRCA2.
Women with BRCA2 appear to be at a more increased risk of getting breast cancer that mostly develops during the first two years of postpartum. Genetic counseling should be done to pregnant women suffering from breast cancer in consideration to the age of the diagnosis made.
After giving birth, women are not only at an increased risk of developing breast cancer but can also have a more complicated prognosis than that of a non-pregnant woman if found to have cancer. Another research has shown that there is an increase in the rate of mortality from a new type of breast cancer that has been recently discovered.
This type of cancer decreases with each year subsequently after giving birth. This research also demonstrated that a new diagnosis of breast cancer done within 2years of pregnancy has an increased rate of mortality as compared to women with an older dated pregnancy by 95%.
