According to studies that are being presented before the European Breast Cancer Conference in Barcelona women who have been treated for breast cancer can have babies without a furthering their risk of dying from their cancer.
Analysis of 14 trials by researchers from Belgium and Italy shows that pregnancy is safe for breast cancer survivors.
The trials took place between 1970 and 2009 and involved 1, 1417 pregnant woman who had suffered breast cancer and a further 18, 059 breast cancer sufferers who were not pregnant.
The findings do not support the notion that hormonal changes caused by pregnancy could prompt a recurrence of the cancer or cause it to be more aggressive.
Dr Hatem Azim, of the Institute Jules Bordet in Brussels, claimed that the analysis actually suggests that patients who became pregnant after being diagnosed with breast cancer had a 42 per cent reduction in the risk of death compared with those survivors who did not get pregnant.
He declared: "Our findings demonstrate that pregnancy is safe in women with a history of successfully treated breast cancer.
"There is a perception in the oncology community that women with history of breast cancer should not get pregnant for fear of pregnancy increasing the risk of recurrence by means of hormonal stimulation. This meta-analysis strongly argues against this notion."
Dr Azim added that whilst it was well known that oestrogen was linked to breast cancer the protective effect of pregnancy suggested by the research could be explained by a higher level of the hormone inhibiting cancer cells or because the body bolsters its immune system during pregnancy.
Source: netdoctor.co.uk, 29 March 2010 or http://www.ippf.org/
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