Management of the pregnant mother with malignant conditions.

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

4-1-2001

Abstract

A malignancy discovered in pregnancy is often difficult to manage; the optimal maternal therapy has to be balanced with the fetal well-being. Generally, the cancer is managed as though the patient is not pregnant. For the various site-specific cancers, surgery is the main modality of treatment; this should be individualized. Chemotherapeutic agents are highly teratogenic in the first trimester, with some adverse effects when used after 12 weeks' gestation. The overall survival rate for pregnancy-associated breast cancer is poor; the reasons for this are discussed. For cervical cancer, delivery by caesarean section appears to be the method of choice, with significantly better survival rates compared with those who deliver vaginally. Other gynaecological and non-gynaecological malignancies are discussed.

Keywords

Antineoplastic Agents/adverse effects, Breast Neoplasms/diagnosis, Breast Neoplasms/therapy

Publication Title

Current opinion in obstetrics & gynecology

ISSN

1040-872X

Divisions

fac_med

Volume

13

Issue

2

Additional Information

Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University of Malaya Medical Centre, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. siva@medicine.med.um.edu.my

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