Chemotherapy during pregnancy does not appear to increase complications for newborn infants

16. 08. 2012 | ecancer.org


The babies of breast cancer patients who undergo chemotherapy while pregnant do not appear to be at higher risk of complications, according to an article published in The Lancet Oncology [1].

Chemotherapy during pregnancy does not appear to increase complications for newborn infants

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The study examined a group of more than 400 women from across Europe who were diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer while pregnant.

197 (48%) of the women underwent chemotherapy during pregnancy, and the authors assessed whether their newborn babies suffered any ill effects that could be attributable to the cancer drugs.

While infants whose mothers had undergone chemotherapy while pregnant had, on average, a lower birth weight than those whose mothers had not had chemotherapy, there were few other noticeable differences between the groups.

Read the whole article at ecancer.org

Reference

  1. Loibl, S., Han, S. N. et al. (2012). Treatment of breast cancer during pregnancy: an observational study The Lancet Oncology DOI: 10.1016/S1470-2045(12)70261-9

Keywords: chemotherapy, pregnancy, breast cancer

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