Breastfeeding after breast cancer in young BRCA carriers
- Author(s)
- Blondeaux, E; Delucchi, V; Mariamidze, E; Bernstein-Molho, R; Frank, S; Ferrari, A; Linn, S; Jeong Kim, H; Agostinetto, E; Paluch-Shimon, S; Cortesi, L; Di Meglio, A; Balmana, J; Yerushalmi, R; Rodriguez-Wallberg, KA; Renaud, T; Cui, W; Moore, HCF; Wong, SM; Pogoda, K; Lustberg, M; Phillips, KA; Han, S; Puglisi, F; Vernieri, C; Bajpai, J; Sonnenblick, A; Rousset-Jablonski, C; De Marchis, L; De Giorgi, U; Bianchini, G; Texeira, L; Duhoux, FP; Villarreal-Garza, C; Sini, V; Fruscio, R; Del Mastro, L; Demeestere, I; Azim, HA, Jr; Peccatori, FA; Partridge, AH; Lambertini, M;
- Journal Title
- Journal of the National Cancer Institute
- Publication Type
- Online publication before print
- Abstract
- BACKGROUND: We investigated safety of breastfeeding after breast cancer in patients carrying germline BRCA pathogenic or likely pathogenic variants. METHODS: This was an international, multicentre, hospital-based, retrospective cohort study including BRCA carriers diagnosed with stage I-III invasive breast cancer at age 40 years or younger between January 2000 and December 2020 (NCT03673306). Locoregional recurrences and/or contralateral breast cancers, disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) were compared between patients who breastfed after delivery and those who did not. RESULTS: Among 4732 patients included from 78 centres worldwide, 659 had a pregnancy after breast cancer diagnosis, of whom 474 delivered a child. After excluding patients with uptake of bilateral risk-reducing mastectomy prior to delivery (n = 225) or unknown breastfeeding status (n = 71), 110 (61.8%) breastfed (median duration 5 months) and 68 (38.2%) did not breastfeed. Compared to patients in the no breastfeeding group, those who breastfed were more frequently nulliparous at breast cancer diagnosis (61.8% vs 45.6%) and did not report prior smoking habit (71.8% vs 57.4%).After a median follow up of 7.0 years following delivery, 7-year cumulative incidence of locoregional recurrences and/or contralateral breast cancers was 29% in the breastfeeding group and 37% in the no breastfeeding group (adjusted subdistribution hazard ratio[HR]=1.08, 95%CI 0.57-2.06). No difference in DFS (aHR = 0.83, 95%CI 0.49-1.41) nor in OS (aHR = 1.32, 95%CI 0.31-5.66) was observed. CONCLUSIONS: Breastfeeding did not appear to be associated with a higher risk of developing locoregional recurrences or contralateral breast cancers, emphasizing the possibility of achieving a balance between maternal and infant needs without compromising oncological safety.
- Department(s)
- Medical Oncology
- Publisher's Version
- https://doi.org/10.1093/jnci/djaf177
- Open Access at Publisher's Site
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Creation Date: 2025-07-22 03:30:57
Last Modified: 2025-07-22 03:31:16