Can we trust tumour markers in pregnancy after breast cancer? A case of elevated CA 15-3 in the third trimester of pregnancy normalising after delivery

Barbara Buonomo; Stefania A Noli; Alessandra Santini; Carlo Alviggi; Fedro A Peccatori

doi:10.3332/ecancer.2019.979

Can we trust tumour markers in pregnancy after breast cancer? A case of elevated CA 15-3 in the third trimester of pregnancy normalising after delivery

Ecancermedicalscience. 2019 Nov 26:13:979. doi: 10.3332/ecancer.2019.979. eCollection 2019.

Authors

Barbara Buonomo^{1

2}, Stefania A Noli^{2

3}, Alessandra Santini⁴, Carlo Alviggi¹, Fedro A Peccatori²

Affiliations

¹ Gynecology and Obstetrics Unit, Department of Neuroscience, Reproductive Sciences and Dentistry, School of Medicine, University of Naples Federico II, 80138 Naples, Italy.
² Fertility and Procreation Unit, Division of Gynecologic Oncology, European Institute of Oncology IRCCS, 20141 Milan, Italy.
³ Department of Clinical Sciences and Community Health, Università degli Studi di Milano, 20122 Milan, Italy.
⁴ Oncologia Clinica, Azienda Ospedaliera Universitaria (AOU) Sant'Anna, 44124 Ferrara, Italy.

Abstract

We realized a narrative review of the current literature starting from the case of a patient with raised CA15-3 during an uncomplicated pregnancy after breast cancer. The aim of our paper was to assess specificity, physiological changes and clinical utility of CA 15-3 monitoring during pregnancy after breast cancer, starting from clinical practice and retrieving the most relevant evidence in the literature.

Keywords: CA 15-3; breast cancer; markers; pregnancy.

Publication types

Case Reports