Breast cancer during oral contraceptive therapy

Five women under 35 years of age with carcinoma of the breast were taking oral contraceptives at the time the lesion was discovered. In each case, the invasive carcinoma was an infiltrating ductal type, and one patient also had bilateral lobular carcinoma in situ. No gross or microscopic features were recognized which were different from a control group of cancers from young women not taking hormones. There was no evidence of an unusual response morphologically. This study provides no proof of an association between hormones and carcinoma. In recent years, the frequency of carcinoma of the breast in women less than 35 years old remains at 4 percent of all breast cancers in our hospital population which is similar to the proportion of breast cancers in young women before antiovulants became available.