Breast cancer in pregnancy: A brief clinical review

Influence of cancer in pregnancy on obstetric and neonatal outcomes: an observational retrospective cohort study

OBJECTIVE

The study aimed to review the oncological characteristics and treatment of pregnancy-associated cancers and analyze the obstetric and neonatal outcomes to provide evidence-based recommendations for reproductive function preservation, oncological treatment, and obstetric management.

METHODS

We conducted an observational retrospective cohort study among pregnant patients with cancer in 7 Chinese tertiary A hospitals from 2003 to 2021. We conducted multiple logistic regression to determine the influence of various factors on preterm birth and small-for-gestational-age infants, log-binomial regression to analyze temporal changes, and χ² tests to explore the effects of cancer type/treatment.

RESULTS

Of 204 women, 17% terminated their pregnancies; 59% received pre-delivery treatment. Every 6 years, the rates of pregnancy termination (relative risk [RR]=0.48; 95% confidence interval [CI]=0.35-0.67) and iatrogenic preterm births (RR=0.73; 95% CI=0.54-0.98) reduced, and that of pre-delivery treatment increased, mainly due to increased rates of surgery (RR=1.87; 95% CI=1.31-2.67). Maternal systemic diseases were related to small-for-gestational-age infants (odds ratio [OR]=12.02; 95% CI=1.82-79.43). Chemotherapy with taxanes plus platinum-based agents was related to adverse obstetric outcomes (OR=1.87; 95% CI=1.42-2.46; p<0.05). Thyroid (OR=0.36; 95% CI=0.22-0.57) and ovarian cancer (OR=0.70; 95% CI=0.50-0.98) were associated with fewer cesarean sections. Thyroid cancer was associated with fetal growth restriction (OR=5.21; 95% CI=1.21-22.55).

CONCLUSION

Rates of pregnancy termination in cancer declined. Taxane plus platinum-based chemotherapy was associated with adverse obstetric outcomes. Cancer type influenced outcomes.

TRIAL REGISTRATION

Chinese Clinical Trial Register Identifier: ChiCTR2100044292.

Breast cancer in pregnancy: concurrent cesarean section, nipple-sparing mastectomy, and immediate breast reconstruction-case report

Background

Pregnancy-associated breast cancer (PABC), with an incidence rate from 1:3,000 to 1:10,000 deliveries, is the most frequent cancer during pregnancy. PABC appropriate management must take into consideration both the maternal oncological safety and the fetal health, thus posing a challenge for the mother, the baby, and the clinicians. The treatment should adhere as closely as possible to the breast cancer (BC) guidelines. Therefore, surgery is a mainstay, and, when mastectomy is required, breast reconstruction (BR) is a topic of debate. To minimize the risks to the baby, most surgeons postpone BR to delivery. However, a delayed breast reconstruction (DBR) could affect the outcome. In the present case, we report cesarean section concurrent with mastectomy and immediate breast reconstruction (IBR).

Methods

A 37-year-old patient, at the 36th week of pregnancy with PABC, underwent simultaneous cesarean delivery, nipple-sparing mastectomy, and IBR. To minimize risks for the newborn, cesarean was firstly performed under spinal anesthesia. Immediately after, breast surgery, including mastectomy and IBR, was performed under general anesthesia. Partial submuscular IBR with an acellular porcine dermal matrix concluded the surgical procedure. Lactation was inhibited, and adjuvant chemotherapy and hormone therapy were administered to the patient.

Results

In a single surgical session, cesarean delivery, subcutaneous mastectomy, axillary dissection, and IBR were successfully carried out. No early or late postoperative complications were reported for both the patient and the newborn. Histopathological investigation reported a multifocal and multicentric infiltrating ductal carcinoma. After a 6-year follow-up, the patient is alive and well.

Conclusion

To the best of our knowledge, this is the first reported case of concomitant cesarean delivery, PABC mastectomy, axillary dissection, and IBR. This surgical strategy allowed PABC treatment by the BC guideline, minimizing the newborn's disadvantage and permitting, at the same time, the best final BR outcome.

DNAJC3-AS1 Is Associated with Proliferation, Metastasis, and Poor Prognosis of Breast Cancer

Objective

Long noncoding RNA DNAJC3-AS1 (DNAJC3-AS1) was a newly identified tumor-related lncRNA. The aim of the present study was to explore the prognostic value and diagnostic of DNAJC3-AS1 (DNAJC3-AS1) expression in breast cancer (BC) patients. Patients and Methods. The expression of DNAJC3-AS1 was detected in 170 BC tissues and matched normal breast samples by qRT-PCR. The diagnostic value of DNAJC3-AS1 was examined by receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) assays. The correlation of DNAJC3-AS1 with clinicopathological features and prognosis was also statistically analyzed. CCK-8 assays, colony formation assays, and Transwell assays were applied to examine the potential function of DNAJC3-AS1 on tumor progression. Western blot was used to examine the expression of EMT-related proteins.

Results

The expression of DNAJC3-AS1 in BC specimens was higher than that in the adjacent nontumor tissues (p < 0.01). Diagnostic assays revealed that DNAJC3-AS1 has considerable diagnostic accuracy, with an area under the ROC curve (AUC) of 0.7457 (p < 0.001). High DNAJC3-AS1 expression was positively associated with lymph node metastasis (p = 0.010) and clinical stage (p = 0.023). A survival study revealed that patients with high DNAJC3-AS1 expression had shorter overall survival (p = 0.0067) and disease-free survival (p < 0.0001) than those with low DNAJC3-AS1 expression. More importantly, multivariate assays indicated that DNAJC3-AS1 was an independent prognostic factor in BC patients. Functional assays confirmed that silence of DNAJC3-AS1 distinctly suppressed the proliferation, metastasis, and EMT progress of BC cells.

Conclusions

DNAJC3-AS1 may be a prognostic and diagnostic biomarker for BC patients.

Early Breast Cancers During Pregnancy Treated With Breast-Conserving Surgery in the First Trimester of Gestation: A Feasibility Study

Breast cancer is the most common malignancy occurring during gestation. In early-stage breast cancer during pregnancy (PrBC), breast-conserving surgery (BCS) with delayed RT is a rational alternative to mastectomy, for long considered the standard-of-care. Regrettably, no specific guidelines on the surgical management of these patients are available. In this study, we investigated the feasibility and safety of BCS during the first trimester of pregnancy in women with early-stage PrBC. All patients with a diagnosis of PrBC during the first trimester of pregnancy jointly managed in two PrBC-specialized Centers were included in this study. All patients underwent BCS followed by adjuvant radiotherapy to the ipsilateral breast after delivery. Histopathological features and biomarkers were first profiled on pre-surgical biopsies. The primary outcome was the isolated local recurrence (ILR). Among 168 PrBC patients, 67 (39.9%) were diagnosed during the first trimester of gestation. Of these, 30 patients (age range, 23-43 years; median=36 years; gestational age, 2-12 weeks; median=7 weeks; median follow-up time=6.5 years) met the inclusion criteria. The patients that were subjected to radical surgery (n=14) served as controls. None of the patients experienced perioperative surgical complications. No ILR were observed within three months (n=30), 1 year (n=27), and 5 years (n=18) after surgery. Among the study group, 4 (12.3%) patients experienced ILR or new carcinomas after 6-13 years, the same number (n=4) had metastatic dissemination after 3-7 years. These patients are still alive and disease-free after 14-17 years of follow-up. The rate of recurrences and metastasis in the controls were not significantly different. The findings provide evidence that BCS in the first trimester PrBC is feasible and reasonably safe for both the mother and the baby.

Good news on the active management of pregnant cancer patients

Cancer occurs in approximately 1/1000 to 1/2000 pregnancies and presents complex medical and ethical dilemmas for patients and providers. The most common cancers diagnosed in the gestational period include breast, cervical, melanoma, and lymphomas. The majority of existing evidence regarding the treatment of cancer during pregnancy is derived from experiences with breast cancer. Other cancers often pose unique challenges given the location of the tumors and their traditional mode of treatment with pelvic surgery and radiation. Additionally, many emerging therapies for cancer target mechanisms that are necessary for fetal development, such as angiogenesis, and are contraindicated in pregnant women. Although limitations on the treatment of cancer during pregnancy currently exist, increasing evidence shows that many surgical and systemic therapies can be effective for a mother’s oncologic outcomes without significant detriment to the developing fetus. Traditional perspectives of cancer during gestation may sway providers to encourage pregnancy termination, delays in therapy, or early delivery. However, recent studies and reviews discourage such practices. Although every cancer diagnosis in pregnancy requires an individualized approach and should use the multidisciplinary perspectives of maternal–fetal medicine specialists as well as medical and surgical oncologists, providers should feel empowered to safely employ systemic, surgical, and even reserved cases of radiation therapies for their pregnant patients with cancer. The aim of this review is to highlight some of the recent advances in cancer therapies for common cancer subtypes and encourage providers to use this growing body of evidence to employ treatments with curative intent while continuing to evaluate the long-term effects of these therapies on mothers and their children.

Whole body MRI for systemic staging of breast cancer in pregnant women

When breast cancer is diagnosed during pregnancy, treatment should be as close; as possible to what is used in non-pregnant patients. This requires accurate local and systemic staging: ultrasound (US) is used for local staging and allows adequate evaluation of the liver and pelvis, but chest and bones cannot be explored and imaging techniques involving exposure to ionizing radiation would be needed. However, since imaging techniques involving ionizing radiation and the use of radionuclides should be limited, whole body magnetic resonance imaging (WB-MRI) without administration of contrast agent represents a very interesting alternative, but limited data is available. In this paper we describe the obstetrical and oncological outcome of 14 patients in whom breast cancer was diagnosed during the second or third trimester of pregnancy and that were staged using WB-MRI. Median age of the patient at diagnosis was 35 years (range 20-36), median gestational age at MRI was 30 weeks (range 13-32) and median age at delivery was 38 weeks (range 32-38). At birth, one new-born presented respiratory distress syndrome and one jaundice. We conclude that diffusion-weighted MRI is feasible accurate and safe for the mother and for the foetus. It may represent the staging technique of choice in pregnant women diagnosed with breast cancer after the first trimester of pregnancy.

Breast reconstruction in pregnancy: a case report of multidisciplinary team approach in immediate autologous flap reconstruction for pregnancy-associated breast cancer

This report presents the results of immediate breast reconstruction with autologous flap in Pregnancy‐associated breast cancer (PABC). There was no obstetrics and surgical complications in our report. Immediate breast reconstruction can be performed in PABC after a careful selection. Multidisciplinary team approach is the key in managing these groups of patients.