Breast Cancer During Pregnancy

When you're diagnosed with breast cancer, you have so many decisions to make, and so many emotions to deal with: fear, anger, despair — it can be so overwhelming. Then, if you're pregnant when you're diagnosed, the medical decisions become even more complicated and emotionally loaded. There are so many issues to worry about:

• How safe and reliable are mammography and other diagnostic techniques during pregnancy?
• If you continue your pregnancy, will it worsen your chances of recovering from breast cancer?
• Can breast cancer treatment during pregnancy harm the baby? If so, can you delay treatment until after you deliver the baby?
• Will you be able to breastfeed your baby?

You may feel like you're the only one having to deal with pregnancy AND breast cancer, and grapple with these questions. But you're not alone. More women are delaying having children until their late thirties and early forties. And as women grow older, their risk of breast cancer increases. Today, about one in four new breast cancer cases occurs in women of childbearing age. The result: more and more women are facing pregnancy and a breast cancer diagnosis at the same time.