The number of women who never resume their breast cancer treatment post-pregnancy is higher than expected, finds a new Stanford Medicine-led study.
Women who want to get pregnant must stop their endocrine therapy and breast imaging. According to a release, “the researchers found that only about one-third of women with hormone receptor-positive breast cancer resumed endocrine therapy after delivery, and only about two-thirds resumed regular breast imaging.”
About 20% of the 215 studied women experienced breast cancer recurrence in the next ten years. All became pregnant during the years post diagnosis. Nearly 30% of the women who were eligible for endocrine therapy never started treatment. 32% of the 113 who started treatment finished at least five years. Of the 72% (81 women) who halted their treatment for pregnancy, “36 (32%) resumed the therapy.”
Additionally, “among the 130 women eligible for regular breast imaging to screen for recurrence (those who had not undergone bilateral mastectomy), 87 (67%) resumed imaging after delivery.”
