Current or recent pregnancy is associated with adverse pathologic features but not impaired survival in early breast cancer

BACKGROUND: Pregnancy‐associated breast cancer (PABC) may be defined as breast cancer diagnosed during pregnancy or within 1 year of giving birth. Conflicting data exist regarding the impact of pregnancy on clinical features and prognosis of breast cancer. METHODS: A single‐institution retrospective...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Cancer 2012-07, Vol.118 (13), p.3254-3259
Main Authors: Murphy, Conleth G., Mallam, Divya, Stein, Samantha, Patil, Sujata, Howard, Jane, Sklarin, Nancy, Hudis, Clifford A., Gemignani, Mary L., Seidman, Andrew D.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Biological and medical sciences
breast cancer
Breast Neoplasms - metabolism
Breast Neoplasms - mortality
Breast Neoplasms - pathology
Female
Gynecology. Andrology. Obstetrics
Humans
Mammary gland diseases
Medical sciences
Middle Aged
pathologic features
post‐partum
Pregnancy
Pregnancy Complications, Neoplastic - metabolism
Pregnancy Complications, Neoplastic - mortality
Pregnancy Complications, Neoplastic - pathology
prognosis
Receptors, Estrogen - metabolism
Receptors, Progesterone - metabolism
survival
Tumors
Young Adult
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:BACKGROUND: Pregnancy‐associated breast cancer (PABC) may be defined as breast cancer diagnosed during pregnancy or within 1 year of giving birth. Conflicting data exist regarding the impact of pregnancy on clinical features and prognosis of breast cancer. METHODS: A single‐institution retrospective chart review was performed of 99 patients identified with PABC between 1992 and 2007. Non‐PABC controls were matched 2:1 to PABC cases by year of diagnosis and age. The differences in clinical features were compared between cases and controls using chi‐square tests. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed to assess the effect of PABC on survival. RESULTS: Of the 99 PABC cases, breast cancer was diagnosed during pregnancy in 36 patients, and after delivery in 63. PABC cases were more likely than controls to be negative for estrogen receptor (59% vs 31%, P < .0001) and negative for progesterone receptor (72% vs 40%, P < .0001). Cases were also more likely to have advanced T class (P = .0271) and N class (P = .0104) and higher grade tumors (P = .0115). With a median follow‐up of 6.3 years for cases and 4.7 years for controls, overall survival did not differ between cases and controls (P = .0787). On multivariate analysis, the independent prognostic factors for overall survival were estrogen receptor status (P = .0031) and N class (P = .0003). The diagnosis of PABC was not an independent prognostic factor (P = .1317). CONCLUSIONS: PABC is associated with more adverse tumor features than non‐PABC matched for age and year of diagnosis. After correcting for pathologic features, the diagnosis of PABC is not in itself an adverse prognostic factor for survival. Cancer 2011. © 2011 American Cancer Society. We compared the clinical features and survival of 99 women diagnosed with pregnancy‐associated breast cancer (PABC) and 186 control patients matched for age and year of diagnosis. Although PABC was associated with more adverse pathologic features, the diagnosis of PABC was not itself an independent adverse prognostic feature.
ISSN:0008-543X
1097-0142
DOI:10.1002/cncr.26654