A diagnosis of breast cancer can leave young women with more to worry about than just treating the disease.
Young women diagnosed with breast cancer are often advised to postpone pregnancy up to 2 years following treatment to avoid a surge in hormones that could lead to breast cancer recurrence.
However, new research out of the Jules Bordet Institute in Brussels suggests that women diagnosed with breast cancer will not face an increased risk of recurrence if they become pregnant following treatment.
Experts in the field are optimistic about the study, but caution that it is preliminary and requires additional inquiries before new standards can be developed.
Sarah Powell and Lisa Kidd are two young women who surprisingly became pregnant shortly after receiving cancer treatments. They both carry BRCA gene mutations, which puts them at a higher risk for breast and ovarian cancer.
They were advised to wait 2 years before conceiving and assumed that their chances of conceiving were slim due to cancer treatments. They believed they would need to use assisted reproduction to conceive, but were pleasantly surprised when they became pregnant naturally.
Read more about their stories here.
