Pregnancy Associated with Breast Cancer: a review of the literature (Atena Editora)

Abstract

Goal: to expose the main concepts of Breast Cancer diagnosed during pregnancy, presenting its risk and protective factors, patient profile and diagnosis. Literature Review: Pregnancy-Associated Breast Cancer (CMAG) is a breast cancer disease that affects patients during the first year after pregnancy. CMAG reaches its peak close to the fourth decade of life. There are factors that can be both risk and protective, such as reproductive behavior. Women who conceived 3 years ago have a 2.66 times higher risk compared to those who gave birth 10 years ago, just as a first pregnancy at age 30 can reduce the risk by 25% for all CMAGs. Breastfeeding, unlike reproductive behavior, is restricted to protect the patient, reducing the risk by up to 4.3% every 12 months, adding 7% to this value per pregnancy. The most prevalent Pregnancy-Associated Breast Cancers are those with negative hormone receptors, therefore Triple Negative and HER-2 positive. Both have an advanced staging pattern, high Ki67 index and Invasive Ductal Carcinoma (IDC) histology. Within the CMAG histological classifications, CDI corresponds to 71-100% of cases. Clinical findings in the breast include thickening of the skin, secretion of purulent fluids or blood, inflammatory and lymphatic changes. Pregnancy-Associated Breast Cancer has tropism for vascular tissues and adjacent lymph nodes, causing 2.5 times more metastases than other tumors. Conclusion: There is a need to expand the field of research on Pregnancy-Associated Breast Cancer, given the magnitude of exponential growth presented by this pathology in recent decades.