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» Prognosis and treatment of breast cancer in pregnant patients
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Prognosis and treatment of breast cancer in pregnant patients
Prognosis and treatment of breast cancer in pregnant patients
Breast cancer - a malignant disease of the glandular breast tissue. As we know, this body is composed of lobules and ducts of glands. These lobes in each breast for 15 to 20. All these segments are joined together milk ducts.
The main point that should be paid to the anatomy of the mammary glands, concerning such diseases as cancer - is the lymph flow. Lymph flowing through the lymph vessels to lymph nodes - clusters of lymphoid tissue in the form bean. The most neighbors lymph nodes for breast cancer are axillary and supraclavicular and thoracic.
Sometimes breast cancer is detected in pregnant women and have just given birth. Most often a cancer occurs in women aged 32 - 38 years. According to statistics, breast cancer occurs in 1 in 3,000 pregnancies.
Early diagnosis of breast cancer in pregnant women or women who are breastfeeding is difficult, because they have observed physiological changes in breast tissue in the form of engorgement and an increase in size. All this leads to difficulty identifying small tumors and, consequently, to delay the early diagnosis of cancer. Therefore, pregnant women, breast cancer is detected frequently in the later stage.
The implication of this examination of mammary glands in pregnant women should be part of prenatal and postnatal care.
For the diagnosis of breast cancer, pregnant women and women who are breastfeeding should conduct regular breast self-examination. In addition, during pregnancy and postpartum woman should always take a clinical breast examination. In case of any abnormal formation of tissue in the breast is held below a method of diagnosis:
Ultrasonography.
Mammography. The risk to the fetus due to X-ray exposure is minimal. In pregnant women, mammogram results may be false negative due to physiological changes in breast tissue, which seemed to mask the cancer.
A biopsy of the mammary glands.
Prognosis and treatment of breast cancer during pregnancy depends on the following factors: STAGE cancer, tumor size, type of breast cancer, age of the fetus, the presence of symptoms of cancer, the general condition of the patient.
In the event that the treatment of breast cancer surgery is planned, or chemotherapy, lactation (the formation of milk in the breast) and breast-feeding should be discontinued. Prior to the surgery to the termination of breastfeeding in order to reduce the amount of blood loss during surgery, as well as reduce the volume of the breast tissue. In addition, before chemotherapy and breast-feeding should be discontinued, since many chemotherapy drugs, especially cyclophosphamide and methotrexate, may be excreted in breast milk in very high concentrations, which, of course, harm the infant.
Information for pregnant women
Breast cancer itself does not have any harmful effects on the fetus. Cancer cells from breast cancer can not get into the body of the fetus.
Pregnancy does not affect the survival of women who have in the past had breast cancer. Some doctors recommend that women who had undergone treatment for breast cancer, to postpone the establishment of the child within two years. This will allow to identify early recurrence of cancer.
If a woman has recently undergone breast cancer, it does not affect the status of the fetus. The effect of some types of breast cancer on subsequent pregnancies is unknown. Effect of high-dose chemotherapy and bone marrow transplantation and radiotherapy for subsequent pregnancies is unknown.
