There's reassuring news for breast cancer survivors who want to have children. Those who become pregnant after treatment are no more likely to have their cancer come back than those who don't have a baby.
It's a big issue - the average age of mothers has been rising and more women are being diagnosed with breast cancer in their child bearing years. About 11 per cent of new breast cancer cases in the US are in women under 45.
The study, done in Europe, is the largest so far on women whose cancers were fuelled by hormones, which rise in pregnancy and theoretically, might spur a recurrence.
"Having a family is one of the most important achievements in a person's life," said study leader Dr. Matteo Lambertini of the Jules Bordet Institute in Brussels, Belgium. These results show that "pregnancy after breast cancer can be considered safe."
The research involved more than 1200 breast cancer survivors. More than half had tumours whose growth was fuelled by estrogen. After treatment, 333 became pregnant, about two-and-a-half years after their cancer diagnosis, on average. Researchers compared them to 874 other survivors, matched for tumour type and other things, who did not.
More than 12 years after conception, recurrence rates were similar in both groups. Abortion had no impact on the rates either.
There was information on breast-feeding for only 64 of the mums, but 25 reported doing so successfully, suggesting it's possible for some women even after breast surgery.
The results show "fairly convincingly" that women don't have to worry, said Dr. Richard Schilsky, chief medical officer for the American Society of Clinical Oncology. The group featured the study at its annual conference that ended on Tuesday in Chicago.
