Chemotherapy during pregnancy does not pose any severe complications for the child and could be conducted as it is with the non-pregnant women, a new study says.
Researchers from German Breast Group found no higher risk of birth defects, blood disorders or alopecia in children of breast cancer patients who underwent the process during pregnancy than children of women who didn't undergo chemotherapy during pregnancy.
According to professor Sibylee Loibl, the number of times a pregnant woman undergoes chemotherapy does not affect the baby's birth weight.
Investigators included 400 pregnant women from Europe. All the participants were detected with early-stage breast cancer after becoming pregnant. About 197 women (48 percent) did chemotherapy during pregnancy and the investigators initiated to study the negative impact of the cancer drugs on the children.
About 50 percent participants of the study gave birth before completing their gestational period. About 23 percent of babies were born around 35th week of gestation.
Though more cases of complications were found among the chemotherapy group, they were particularly among premature babies.
So the investigators emphasize the need for completing the gestational period to avoid any negative effects of chemotherapy on children.
"Our findings emphasise the importance of prioritising a full-term delivery in women who undergo chemotherapy while pregnant", Loibl said in a news release. "Illness and mortality in newborn babies is directly related to gestational age at delivery. This is an important clinical message because the decision to deliver the foetus preterm is often taken without medical indication. Our work suggests that treating patients with breast cancer while pregnant is possible, and there is no need to interrupt the pregnancy or receive inferior therapy."
According to experts, the risk of developing breast cancer increases with the delay in the first pregnancy.
"The concomitant incidence of breast cancer and pregnancy is rising in high-income countries, because of increases in maternal age at the time of first pregnancy," Olivier Mir of the Cancer Associated with Pregnancy Network, France, said in a statement.
However, further research is needed to determine the safe chemotherapy doses for pregnant women.
"Very few studies have assessed the long-term outcomes of chemotherapy during pregnancy, and further work is needed to determine whether the foetal risks outlined by Professor Loibl and her colleagues could be minimised with optimal drug selection and dosing."
