WASHINGTON-Breast cancer doesn't seem to be specially aggressive when it arises during pregnancy.
An M.D. Anderson team that has treated 21 pregnant patients over nine years says the five-year survival was an expected 67%. Among the children, there were no severe congenital or developmental problems, nor any cancers after a mean 3.5-year follow-up, says Dr. David Berry.
Nineteen women had primary tumors during pregnancy, getting modified radical mastectomies with axillary node dissection, and two had recurrent lesions, he told the combined clinical research meetings here. All 21 got 5-FU, doxorubicin, and cyclophosphamide, with a median of four courses of chemotherapy.
Mean gestational age was 37.6 weeks and birthweights were normal.
