Rounds with the Investigators 2012 | Breast Cancer

DR NEIL LOVE: Just real quick, actually, Sara: Amazingly we got a communication from a medical oncologist in Nigeria who was asking a question I never heard anybody ask, but I thought it was interesting. At what point may a woman breast-feed from a breast that has had surgery or radiation for breast cancer?

DR SARA HURVITZ: Wow! That’s a very interesting question, and I’ve never heard it. In general, patients of mine who have had breast surgery and radiation and go on to have a pregnancy, they haven’t breast-fed. And I do not know the answer to that question.

DR HAROLD BURSTEIN: You can’t feed after radiotherapy to the breast.

DR LOVE: Doesn’t work?

DR BURSTEIN: Well, the breast is sclerotic and fibrotic, such that you can’t lactate normally out of the affected breast. So if the woman has an intact opposite breast, in theory it is possible to nurse the baby with lactation from the opposite breast.

DR HURVITZ: But in practice, at least what I’ve found is my patients that get radiation to one breast and are relying on one breast often are ultimately unsuccessful. It’s very difficult to do with one breast.

DR LOVE: Interesting. What about after surgery, like a lumpectomy?

DR BURSTEIN: It depends on the extent of the surgery, because the more you disrupt the duct network, the more difficult it is, and particularly if it’s anywhere near the nipple, you lose a lot of lactation.