Over 3000 women under 45 diagnosed with breast cancer each year in Australia and many will want to become pregnant. Retrospective evidence suggests pregnancy after BC does not worsen disease outcomes, but treatments including chemotherapy and 5-10 years of adjuvant endocrine therapy (ET) mean if women wait until the end of therapy their chances of conceiving are very low.
The POSITIVE trial asked “is it safe, from a BC relapse perspective, to temporarily interrupt ET to attempt pregnancy?” The results confirm temporary interruption of ET to attempt pregnancy among women who desire pregnancy does not impact short-term disease outcomes, nor birth outcomes. These findings are reassuring and stress the need to incorporate patient-centered reproductive healthcare in the treatment and follow-up of young women with breast cancer.