In Other Journals

After a diagnosis of breast cancer, women are often advised to wait 2 years before attempting to fall pregnant. Now, Australian researchers say that women with localised disease (and who have completed their treatment) need not wait the full 2 years. Ives and colleagues studied pregnancy and survival outcomes in 2539 younger women in Western Australia diagnosed with breast cancer between 1982 and 2000. About 5% of the women had at least one pregnancy after breast cancer, with half conceiving within 2 years of their cancer diagnosis. The researchers reported that the women who conceived had improved survival compared with those who had not conceived, with a definite protective effect for women who waited at least 6 months.