Can I Get Pregnant During and After My Chemotherapy Treatments?

— -- Question: Can I get pregnant during and after my chemotherapy treatments for breast cancer?

Answer: You can get pregnant during chemotherapy for breast cancer, but you should not. We do not know the effect of chemotherapy on the outcome for the fetus, and so women should not get pregnant during chemotherapy.

Whether or not they can get pregnant after chemotherapy depends on whether or not they've had menstrual irregularity from the chemotherapy. That's the first thing it depends on. And the second thing is that we've wondered for a long time whether or not it's safe for women to get pregnant after breast cancer treatment.

From data from a large number of studies, we can now say that it looks like women who get pregnant after a breast cancer diagnosis do not have a prognosis different from those women who do not get pregnant. That is, it does not look like getting pregnant after breast cancer has an adverse effect on whether or not the cancer comes back. But these women who do choose to get pregnant after breast cancer may differ from many women with breast cancer. They may have been told by their doctor that they have a better prognosis, and so it's really an important thing for you to discuss with your doctor individually.

Next: Should I get pregnant after completing breast cancer treatment and will the pregnancy increase my risk for recurrence?

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