Chemotherapy and pregnancy are words that no one would believe compatible, however a new study leaves us surprised to say that Chemotherapy would be safe in pregnancy.
Between 2,500 and 5,000 pregnant women in Europe are diagnosed with cancer every year. It is a very difficult trance for women who go through it, because they are concerned that the disease or treatment may harm the fetus.
Apparently, treating pregnant women with cancer with strong chemotherapy would not harm the fetus. The baby would be at greater risk when undergoing premature delivery than oncological treatment.
This is stated by researchers from the University Hospital of Louvain, in Belgium, who studied the mental and health development of children born to mothers treated for cancer during pregnancy and found that they were not affected by chemotherapy, but were damaged if they were born prematurely, either by natural or induced labor.
If chemotherapy is administered after the first trimester of pregnancy, the stage is more susceptible to complications because of the period of formation of the main organs, after the first 12 or 14 weeks of pregnancy, only a fraction of chemotherapy passes through the placenta and reaches the fetus.
They also state that the drugs appear to have no impact on the development of the baby, so there is no reason to cause an abortion, or to delay treatment beyond the first trimester, or to induce premature delivery, as long as it can be avoided.
It is curious what the study says, because chemotherapy sounds much more threatening to a fetus than premature delivery. But we must not forget that being born early is the leading cause of mortality and perinatal disease (period immediately before and after birth) in developed countries.
It is a first step, but much remains to be investigated, such as the long-term consequences of prenatal chemotherapy, the effect it can have on children's fertility and the possibility of developing cancer when they are older.
