Whether you've been diagnosed with breast cancer during pregnancy or you're now pregnant after previous treatment, you'll need particularly close, joined-up care. At Obstetric Care, our role is to work alongside your wider medical team, supporting both you and your baby at every stag.
Diagnosing and Managing Breast Cancer During Pregnancy
Breast cancer during pregnancy is rare, but it does happen. The RCOG estimates that a new diagnosis complicates around 1 in 3,000 pregnancies, and this figure is expected to rise slightly as more women have children later in life.
Pregnancy can make breast changes harder to assess in the first place. Breast tissue naturally becomes fuller as pregnancy progresses, and that can mask a new lump or other change that might otherwise stand out.
That's exactly why anything persistent or out of the ordinary, however small, is worth mentioning at your next antenatal appointment, rather than putting it down to pregnancy alone.
A breast cancer diagnosis during pregnancy doesn't automatically mean ending the pregnancy or delaying treatment until after birth.
Treatment is planned carefully around the stage of pregnancy, the specifics of the cancer, and your own circumstances - which is exactly where a joined-up, multidisciplinary approach matters most.
Your obstetric team will work directly with your breast cancer specialists and anyone else involved in your care to agree the safest path forward for you and your baby. No two treatment plans look quite the same.
Some investigations and treatments may need to be adjusted or timed differently, simply because pregnancy can affect which scans and diagnostic procedures are appropriate at a particular stage.
Why Specialist Obstetric Care Matters
Pregnancy already brings significant physical and hormonal change. Add a current or previous breast cancer diagnosis into the mix, and antenatal care needs to flex around that too.
We're not here to replace your cancer team, our job is to provide expert obstetric input alongside them. In practice, that might mean keeping a closer eye on your health, tracking how the pregnancy is progressing, and staying in regular contact with everyone else involved in your care.
How much monitoring is needed varies from person to person, shaped by medical history, treatment, and how the pregnancy itself is progressing. This is why a current or previous breast cancer diagnosis is one of the factors we consider as part of high-risk pregnancy care.
Read: High-Risk Pregnancies - What You Need to Know and How We Manage Them
Pregnancy After Breast Cancer Treatment
Fertility is also considered within the updated RCOG guidance, including issues surrounding future pregnancy for women who have had a breast cancer diagnosis. It's a topic closely linked to how fertility changes over time more generally.
Whether, and when, pregnancy is appropriate afterwards depends on the type of cancer, the treatment received, any ongoing medication, and your own circumstances. That decision is best made together with your oncology team, ideally as part of wider preconception planning.
Once you are pregnant, your obstetric care can then be built around your medical history and anything specific to your previous treatment.
A Personalised Approach to Pregnancy and Breast Cancer
At Obstetric Care, we look after women who need additional monitoring or have more complex medical histories - breast cancer among them. We work as part of your wider team so that your pregnancy is followed closely, and every decision is made with you and your baby both in mind.
What matters most to us is clear communication, evidence-based medicine, keeping you informed at every step and supporting you.
If you'd like to talk through your pregnancy and how we can support you, please get in touch.