Current challenges in diagnosing gestational breast cancer

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Gestational (pregnancy-associated) breast cancer is diagnosed during pregnancy, within the first postpartum year, or while breastfeeding. Delayed diagnosis and treatment, often due to low physician awareness and the complexities in interpreting diagnostic data to assess the severity of disease, contribute to the poor prognosis of this condition. Russian literature concerning the diagnosis of gestational breast cancer is very limited. Therefore, further exploration of this issue is relevant. The aim of this review is to analyze existing literature on diagnosing gestational breast cancer. A search of PubMed, eLibrary, and Google Scholar was conducted using keywords such as “гестационный рак молочной железы,” “рак молочной железы,” “рак молочной железы, ассоциированный с беременностью,” “беременность,” “кормление грудью,” “лактация,” “МРТ,” “КТ,” “маммография,” “УЗИ,” “биопсия,” “диагностика,” and their English correlates “gestational breast cancer,” “breast cancer,” “pregnancy-associated breast cancer,” “pregnancy,” “breastfeeding,” “lactation,” “MRI,” “CT,” “mammography,” “ultrasound,” “biopsy,” and “diagnosis.” Gestational breast cancer remains a serious challenge for modern medicine. Various methods are employed in diagnosing and treating this disease, including needle aspiration biopsy, fine-needle biopsy, and surgical biopsy. Ultrasound plays a crucial role in monitoring the response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy and assessing regional lymph nodes. Advanced imaging techniques, such as ultrasound elastography, contrast-enhanced ultrasound, and the hybrid PET/MRI technique, may enhance the diagnosis and management of gestational breast cancer. The use of non-contrast diffusion MRI in pregnant and breastfeeding patients is an intriguing area for future research.