title: Imaging of pregnancy-associated breast cancer.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To assess the use of mammography in diagnosis of pregnancy-associated breast cancer (PABC).
  
  
  METHODS
  A retrospective review of medical records between 1973 and 1993 was performed in 85 women with breast cancer diagnosed during pregnancy or within 1 year after pregnancy. In 21 of these women, mammography was performed before biopsy; the mammographic findings in this study group, which had 23 cases of invasive carcinoma, were reviewed for signs of malignancy. Breast sonography was performed in six cases in five women; sonographic findings were also reviewed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Mammographic findings were present in 18 of 23 cases (78%), including mass (n = 13) (nine cases with calcification), suspicious calcifications (n = 4), and diffusely increased parenchymal density (n = 1). Breast sonography revealed focal solid mass in six of six cases. Axillary lymph node metastases occurred in 15 of 23 cases (65%). Although symptoms occurred before or during pregnancy in 12 cases (52%), PABC was diagnosed after pregnancy in 19 cases (83%).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  PABC is often advanced at diagnosis and associated with poor prognosis. Breast imaging studies usually demonstrate focal findings due to clinically evident PABC.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY 10021.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Liberman
authors.forename: C S
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Giess
authors.forename: D D
authors.initials: DD
authors.lastname: Dershaw
authors.forename: B M
authors.initials: BM
authors.lastname: Deutch
authors.forename: J A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Petrek
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D008327:Mammography; D011247:Pregnancy; D011252:Pregnancy Complications, Neoplastic / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D016217:Ultrasonography, Mammary