Chemotherapy for malignant tumors is safe in pregnancy
Last reviewed: 23.04.2024
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Belgian scientists concluded that chemotherapy for malignant tumors is safe in pregnancy and does not require its interruption, MedPage Today reports. Their conclusions are confirmed by a series of reviews on this topic, published in The Lancet.
Until now, cancer in a pregnant woman has caused a serious moral dilemma: to treat a tumor that carries a risk to the fetus, not to treat, which jeopardizes the mother, or interrupts pregnancy and treats cancer.
Researchers from the University Hospital of Leuven observed 70 women who agreed to the treatment of cancer without abortion, and their children until they reach the age of two.
It turned out that the risk of chemotherapy for tumors does not pose a significant risk to the future child if the treatment started after the baby's organs were formed, that is, from about 14 weeks of pregnancy. The only side effect was that two-thirds of the children were born before the term - until the 37th week of pregnancy.
Premature birth, as is known, somewhat reduces the child's intelligence (on average by 11.6 points for each month of prematurity). Among children whose mothers took chemotherapy, this decline did not exceed the same rate in the remaining premature babies, the researchers note in their publication in the journal Lancet Oncology.
Other indicators, such as behavior, general health, growth rate, hearing, etc., fully corresponded to the age norm. In addition, pregnancy did not worsen the prognosis of mothers compared with non-pregnant women.
The results obtained by Belgian researchers are confirmed by a number of European surveys in The Lancet. In general, all of their authors agree that the treatment of cancer should not serve as an indication for abortion. Chemotherapy should only be postponed until the second trimester, which, as a rule, has no critical consequences for the health of the mother. The operation is not contraindicated at any stage of pregnancy.
Single exceptions are blood cancer and metastatic cervical cancer. The first is because his diagnosis and treatment during pregnancy are extremely difficult and often dangerous for the fetus. Second, since the treatment is directed to the area where the child is, and, as a rule, should include both surgery, and radiation and chemotherapy. In this case, treatment of cervical cancer without metastases, including surgical removal of regional lymph nodes and the cervix itself, can be carried out without interrupting pregnancy, scientists believe.
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