Breast cancer in young women

In relation to breast cancer, "young women" generally refers to women who are pre-menopausal. Breast cancer is estimated to be the most commonly diagnosed cancer in women aged 20 to 39 years.

Young women can have some different challenges than women who are post-menopausal at the time of diagnosis. Young women face unique challenges such as early menopause, fertility and sexuality issues.

Key issues

Young and pregnant

Although being diagnosed with breast cancer when pregnant is rare, it does happen. Treatment options may be different if you are pregnant when diagnosed.

Radiotherapy is often not recommended due to the risk to the unborn baby, so some women choose to have a mastectomy instead of breast conserving surgery. If chemotherapy is required, some women choose to wait until after the birth of their child, however studies have shown that babies of women who undergo chemotherapy while pregnant during their second or third trimesters is safe for the baby.

You don’t have to make any decisions about your treatment alone.

Your obstetric and oncology team should include health professionals with experience in caring for women diagnosed with cancer while pregnant. They can help you to make the best choices for you and your baby.

Fertility

The effects of chemotherapy and hormone-blocking therapy can make it harder to get pregnant after treatment ends. A number of factors contribute to this issue, including a woman’s age, and the type of treatment she has and how it affects her ovaries. 

There are options for preserving fertility before starting treatment, which may or may not be suitable to your situation. If you are planning to become pregnant in the future, or even if you haven't given children much thought, it's best to consider some of these options before you start treatment.

These include:

• mature egg freezing
• embryo freezing
• ovarian tissue freezing
• medications
• using a donor egg.

Read more about fertility preservation.

Ovarian suppression

Ovarian suppression during chemotherapy for women with breast cancer may help protect the ovaries. Medications such as goserelin (Zoladex) block the hormones that signal the ovaries to develop and release eggs and causes the ovaries to temporarily shut down. The aim is to protect the eggs from chemotherapy medicine.

Fertility-related Choices: A Decision Aid for Younger Women with Early Breast Cancer is a free booklet from BCNA for young women who have recently been diagnosed with early breast cancer.

It contains information about:

• cancer treatment
• how it can affect fertility
• fertility options to consider.

There are also some worksheets to help you think about these issues.

Early menopause

Some chemotherapy and hormone-blocking therapies can reduce the level of oestrogen produced in the ovaries, causing your periods to stop temporarily or can bring about permanent early menopause. This generally depends on your age and the medications you are given, but if you have not yet reached menopause, you should discuss this with your doctor before treatment.

Early menopause can bring with it uncomfortable side effects, such as hot flushes or vaginal dryness. Talk to your doctor about ways to manage these side effects.

Read more in the My Journey article on Early menopause and breast cancer treatment.

Clinical trials for young women

To see what clinical trials are currently available for young women diagnosed with breast cancer, visit Australian Cancer Trials.