Breast cancer occurs in one of every 3,000 pregnancies. Amazingly, depending on the stage of the pregnancy, pregnant women can receive treatment and still deliver healthy babies.According to a case study published in February's Reproductive Toxicology, a 32-year-old woman who took the targeted Her-2 positive breast cancer drug Herceptin for the first 24 weeks of her pregnancy gave birth to a healthy baby girl. There have been three other similar cases reported. In all three, the babies were born healthy.
Due to a limited number of controlled studies, pregnant women are advised to take Herceptin only if the potential benefits outweigh the potential risk to the fetus.
Source: MAMM magazine, May/June 2007
