New research has found that pregnant women who develop breast cancer face no greater risk of death or cancer recurrence than other young breast cancer patients. Earlier small surveys concluded that pregnancy worsens the condition of breast cancer patients, but this largest survey concluded the opposite. “With early detection, you can achieve a treatment outcome that is balanced for both the adult and the child,” says Petrer of the University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center. In general, pregnant women are particularly fearful of developing breast cancer because of the need to treat the mother and avoid harming the fetus. Some doctors instead advise pregnant women to abort so they can focus on treating the mother. In the latest research report published in the journal Cancer, the Petre Research Group analyzed data on 652 patients treated for breast cancer at the Anderson Cancer Center between 1973 and 2006. The patients were all 35 years of age or younger and included 104 women who were pregnant. Fifty-one of them were diagnosed with breast cancer during pregnancy, and the other 53 developed the disease a year later. The researchers looked at their follow-up data for 10 consecutive years after cancer and found that the patients were about the same as other breast cancer patients in terms of cancer recurrence, spread and survival rates. The survey also found that breast cancer in pregnant women is usually detected at an advanced stage, possibly because patients and doctors overlook changes in the breast. Breast cancer is more aggressive in younger women, and their survival rates are significantly lower. Medical professionals believe age may be a factor in the lesions, but it’s unclear if pregnancy is a cause. In the latest survey, no evidence of faster tumor growth in pregnant women was found, Petre said.