Upasana Saxena, a radiation oncology consultant at the Mumbai’s HCG Cancer Centre has revealed that breast cancer survivors can safely get impregnated and could give birth to healthy babies.
Saxena revealed that pregnancy is very much possible for breast cancer survivors and it will not increase the risk of recurrence nor it will harm the baby.
“Yes, pregnancy is possible for breast cancer patients. Currently, there is no reason or evidence to believe that becoming pregnant after treatment for breast cancer can cause any risk to the mother or the baby,” said Upasana Saxena, timesnownews.com reports.
Indian researchers made this conclusion after they studied the case of Paula, a 33-year-old from Rwanda conceived naturally and gave birth to a baby, five years after she was diagnosed with breast cancer.
Paula underwent treatment for breast and ovarian cancer from 2013. After completing four years of hormone blockade treatment, Paula became ready to deliver a baby. The cancer survivor had her egg frozen before she started her chemotherapy and after completing the treatment, she conceived naturally and delivered a healthy baby.
“Previously, there were concerns over increased risk of cancer recurrence in women who contemplate pregnancy, but it’s good news that studies show no such higher risk in women who conceive as compared to women who do not conceive,” added Saxena.
However, Saxena made it clear that this possibility is not practical for all breast cancer patients. She has claimed that several factors like age, family size and aggressiveness of cancer have direct impacts on determining the healthy pregnancy of the survivor.
A few weeks b ago, a study conducted by researchers at the University of Bristol, England had suggested that women who wake up early are less likely to develop breast cancer. The study report also noted that females who sleep for more than seven hours had a 20 percent increased risk of developing breast cancer per every additional hour they sleep.