Young breast ca survivors have unique needs. (Fertility Issues).

PHILADELPHIA -- Young breast cancer survivors have needs that are unique to their age and not found in older women, presenters .said at a meeting sponsored by Living Beyond Breast Cancer and the Young Survival Coalition.

The uniqueness of breast cancer in premenopausal women begins with diagnosis, said Dr. Kathy Miller, an oncologist in the department of medicine at Indiana University, Indianapolis.

Premenopausal women typically have longer delays in diagnosis than older women. As a consequence, breast cancers in young women tend to be more advanced at diagnosis. In general, there are no differences by disease stage in the way younger women are treated versus older women, but there are marked differences in the consequences of treatment.

Young women with breast cancer reach menopause faster and earlier than they otherwise would due to chemotherapy or tamoxifen treatment. "The onset of menopause can occur within several months to a couple of years in a young woman on these therapies," she said.

Because chemotherapy often causes premature ovarian failure and infertility, young breast cancer patients who want to become pregnant "should not waste time," said Dr. Kutluk Okray of the Center for Reproductive Medicine and Infertility at Cornell University, New York.

"Chemotherapy may not induce menopause immediately but menopause might very well occur within 2 or 3 years after chemotherapy" he noted. Young women have ...