Cancer and pregnancy

Abstract

The most common malignancies occurring in women of child-bearing ages include breast, cervical, genital, and GI malignancies, and melanoma, lymphoma, and leukemia. Pregnancy does not appear to adversely affect the outcome of most tumors but may affect those that are known to be hormonally dependent. The approach in general to malignancy during pregnancy needs to be individualized. Therapy, whether by radiation or with cytotoxic drugs, has the greatest potential for fetal risk during the first trimester but more acceptable risk in the second and third trimesters. There are many unanswered questions concerning long-term effects of malignancy and its therapy upon the surviving child.