Pregnancy-associated breast cancer: evaluating maternal and foetal outcomes. A national study

Pregnancy-associated breast cancer (PABC) is defined as breast cancer diagnosed during the gestational period (gp-PABC) or in the first postpartum year (pp-PABC). Despite its infrequent occurrence, the incidence of PABC appears to be rising due to the increasing propensity for women to delay childbirth. We have established the first retrospective registry study of PABC in Ireland to examine specific clinicopathological characteristics, treatments, and maternal and foetal outcomes.

This was a national, multi-site, retrospective observational study, including PABC patients treated in 12 oncology institutions from August 2001 to January 2020. Data extracted included information on patient demographics, tumour biology, staging, treatments, and maternal/foetal outcomes. Survival data for an age-matched breast cancer population over a similar time period was obtained from the National Cancer Registry of Ireland (NCRI). Standard biostatistical methods were used for analyses.

We identified 155 patients-71 (46%) were gp-PABC and 84 (54%) were pp-PABC. The median age was 36 years. Forty-four patients (28%) presented with Stage III disease and 25 (16%) had metastatic disease at diagnosis. High rates of triple-negative (25%) and HER2+ (30%) breast cancer were observed. We observed an inferior 5-year overall survival (OS) rate in our PABC cohort compared to an age-matched breast cancer population in both Stage I-III (77.6% vs 90.9%) and Stage IV disease (18% vs 38.3%). There was a low rate (3%) of foetal complications.

PABC patients may have poorer survival outcomes. Further prospective data are needed to optimise management of these patients.