Impact of BRCA Status on Reproductive Outcomes in Breast Cancer Patients in Romania: A Retrospective Study

Background Breast cancer is the most common malignancy among women and more female patients fall within genetic testing guidelines indications. Therefore, a larger number of patients will be identified as BRCA mutation carriers. Conflicting results have been published previously regarding the feasibility and safety of conception after breast cancer treatment, and analyses are scarce regarding the BRCA positive population. The present study aims to asses the impact of BRCA status on reproductive and disease-specific outcomes of breast cancer patients. Methods This was a single-center retrospective cohort. Eligible patients were women aged 40 and below, diagnosed with stage I-III invasive breast cancer between 1995 and 2017, and who were tested for BRCA mutations. For all eligible patients, data on breast cancer history, treatment, type of BRCA mutation, reproductive outcomes, recurrence, survival status and the achievement of pregnancy after breast cancer were collected and statistical analyses were performed accordingly. Results One hundred eighteen young patients diagnosed with breast cancer were eligible to be included in the current analysis, of whom 15 had at least one pregnancy after breast cancer. Although groups were quite homogenous, statistically significant differences were observed between BRCAmut and wildtype subgroups regarding the tumor grade, hormone receptor status, HER2 receptor status and types of treatment. BRCA status did not seem to have a statistically significant effect on the reproductive outcomes or disease-specific outcomes such as overall survival, or disease free survival. Conclusion The present analysis, although limited by the bias of selection and small number of patients, did not associate BRCA mutation with a worse prognosis in the setting of pregnancy, nor did pregnancy outcomes seemed to be affected by the BRCA status. Larger, prospective, multicentric studies are needed in order to confirm the safety of pregnancy in BRCA mutated breast cancer patients.