In one, Dr. Cardonick reported on maternal and neonatal outcomes in 109 women diagnosed with breast cancer during pregnancy. Ten received dose-dense chemotherapy and the rest underwent conventional chemotherapy.
One neonate in the dose-dense chemotherapy group experienced transient neutropenia, as did one of nine treated mothers. None of the neonates in the conventional chemotherapy group experienced neutropenia, although 5.4% of the mothers did. Neonatal birth weight and gestational age at delivery were similar in the two groups. At a mean follow-up of 3.5 years, the mean time to recurrent breast cancer was 17.6 months in the dose-dense chemotherapy group and not significantly different at 19.8 months with conventional chemotherapy.
Dr. Cardonick concluded that there’s no reason to discourage consideration of dose-dense chemotherapy in pregnant women fitting the profile of those who benefit from it in the nonpregnant population.
In the other study, Dr. Cardonick and coworkers performed echocardiography on 23 children who had been exposed in utero to anthracycline-based chemotherapy for maternal breast cancer. The cardiac imaging was performed at a mean age of 15 months, with a range from postnatal day 3 to 9 years of age.
Any toxic chemotherapy effects on fetal cardiac myocytes weren’t apparent on postnatal echocardiography, which reassuringly showed no functional or structural defects in any of the children.
Dr. Loibl and Dr. Cardonick reported having no relevant financial disclosures.
[Bevacizumab Short of Mark in First Neoadjuvant Breast Cancer Trial]