Why do you get breast cancer during pregnancy

Pregnancy is the most sacred thing in a woman's life, a new life is about to be born. When preparing for the birth of this new life, your body will also undergo many changes. However, some women have encountered a dark hand "breast cancer". Why do you get breast cancer during pregnancy?

Breast ultrasound should be done during the first prenatal check-up

As mentioned above, breast lumps are one of the important evidences for diagnosing breast cancer during pregnancy and lactation, but excessively swollen breasts during pregnancy become an obstacle to the discovery of breast lumps. It is reported that the diagnosis of breast cancer during pregnancy and lactation is delayed by 2 to 15 months than usual. Generally, when the tumor is diagnosed, it is already very large and the opportunity to preserve the breast has often been lost. Many patients need neoadjuvant chemotherapy to reduce the tumor stage before surgical treatment can be performed, and many pregnant women can only undergo mastectomy.

During pregnancy, the breasts undergo a process of redevelopment in preparation for childbirth and breastfeeding. At this time, the epithelium of the breast ducts expands, and alveoli appear in the glandular ducts, causing the entire breast to swell. At this time, it is difficult to feel a lump by hand alone.

Women need to have a breast examination during prenatal check-up. There are many different ways to check for breast diseases, including manual examination, ultrasound, molybdenum target, magnetic resonance imaging, etc. Some people think that the more expensive the examination items, the better. However, the best way to check breasts during pregnancy is B-ultrasound.

Nowadays, many people do not have breast examinations during prenatal checkups. In fact, the first prenatal checkup uses B-ultrasound to examine the breasts. B-ultrasound does not harm the fetus and can be used multiple times during pregnancy. Molybdenum target examination and MRI are not recommended. The mammary glands of pregnant women are very dense. The positive rate of molybdenum target examination is very low, and false negatives are prone to occur. Problems may not be found, and radiation may also affect the fetus. MRI examinations should only be considered when breast cancer is highly suspected and B-ultrasound cannot confirm the diagnosis.

Breast cancer is not caused by estrogen

As for why breast cancer occurs during pregnancy, many people blame estrogen.

This is because during the first three months of pregnancy, the estrogen level of pregnant women will rapidly soar to 30-50 times the normal level, and continue to rise as the months go by. Breast cancer happens to be a tumor that responds to hormones. Estrogen can act on mammary duct epithelial cells through the estrogen receptor pathway. When this pathway is overactivated, mammary epithelial cells can rapidly proliferate and become cancerous. Therefore, some people speculate that excessive estrogen levels may be the "culprit" that stimulates breast cancer during pregnancy!

However, the truth is that estrogen is an external hormone required for cell growth. It transmits signals to breast cells through estrogen receptors, promoting cell proliferation, differentiation, and division. It is something that the human body needs for growth, but it is not a pathogenic factor. For breast cancer, an increase in estrogen is a risk factor, but not a direct cause. "Human health is affected by the combined effects of multiple hormones. In addition to the increase in estrogen during pregnancy, multiple hormones such as progesterone will also increase rapidly. However, progesterone is a protective factor. It can antagonize estrogen and keep the internal environment stable. The analysis of the causes of breast cancer during pregnancy should be viewed comprehensively, and it cannot be isolated and considered that increased estrogen levels are the direct cause of breast cancer during pregnancy."

There is currently no research to confirm a causal relationship between pregnancy and breast cancer, but breast cancer during pregnancy, stimulated by high estrogen levels, will grow faster than breast cancer that occurs at other times.

From the above, we can see that pregnant mothers must check their breasts during the first prenatal check-up to prevent, detect and treat diseases early, eliminate worries, avoid any unnecessary factors that interfere with the birth of their babies, and protect their bodies in a timely manner.