The effect of pregnancy on the prognosis of carcinoma of the breast following radical mastectomy.

During the interval from 1940 to 1970, 41 patients treated for primary operable carcinoma of the breast had subsequent pregnancies. Of 27 patients with axillary nodes negative for tumor, nine had first trimester abortions and 14 had pregnancies occur less than two years following mastectomy. Fourteen patients had axillary nodes positive for tumor, seven having first trimester abortions and eight pregnancies having occurred within two years of mastectomy. No detrimental effect of subsequent pregnancy could be demonstrated, even among patients with positive axillary nodes or among those whose pregnancies occurred less than two years following mastectomy. Abortion could not be demonstrated to improve the survival rate. We conclude that pregnancy need not be avoided or terminated among those patients who are apparently free of a recurrence after undergoing treatment for carcinoma of the breast.