If possible, your doctor will try to make sure your pregnancy goes to full term. Doctors recommend women are at higher risk of early delivery are cared for in hospitals with specialist baby units. These are called obstetric high dependency units OHDUs. At this stage, research shows most chemotherapy drugs will not harm the baby. Doctors avoid giving certain chemotherapy drugs that could be harmful to the baby. The placenta acts as a barrier between you and the baby.
Some drugs cannot pass through the placenta. Others only pass through in very small amounts. Your specialist doctor and specialist nurse can explain this to you.
You have chemotherapy as an injection or a drip infusion into a vein, or as tablets. This is the same for women who are not pregnant. We have more information about how chemotherapy is given. It may be helpful to talk to a woman who has had chemotherapy during pregnancy.
Chemotherapy is not usually given after you are 37 weeks pregnant. You have a break between your last dose of chemotherapy and your expected delivery date. This avoids the baby being born when your blood cell levels are still low.
Having a low level of blood cells is a temporary side effect of chemotherapy. Some women may have more chemotherapy after the baby is born. If your baby is born soon after your chemotherapy finishes, doctors can give you drugs to support your immune system. This helps you fight infections. Chemotherapy can be given to treat different cancers during pregnancy. These are some examples. Your specialist doctor or nurse will give you information about your individual situation.
It also may be used by itself for more advanced cancers. Chemo is not given during the first 3 months first trimester of pregnancy. The risk of miscarriage losing the baby is also the greatest during this time. For many years, it was thought that all chemo would harm an unborn baby no matter when it was given.
If you have early breast cancer and you need chemo after surgery adjuvant chemo , it will usually be delayed until at least your second trimester.
If you are already in the third trimester when the cancer is found, the chemo may be delayed until after birth. The birth may be induced brought on a few weeks early in some cases. These same treatment plans may also be used for women with more advanced cancer.
This could cause bleeding and increase the chances of infection during birth. Some treatments for breast cancer can harm the baby and are not safe during pregnancy. If these treatments are needed, they are usually scheduled after the baby is born. Radiation therapy: Radiation therapy to the breast is often used after breast-conserving surgery lumpectomy to help reduce the risk of the cancer coming back.
The high doses of radiation used for this can harm the baby any time during pregnancy. This may cause miscarriage, birth defects, slow fetal growth, or a higher risk of childhood cancer. For some women whose cancer is found later in the pregnancy, it may be possible to have a lumpectomy during pregnancy and then wait until after the baby is born to get radiation therapy.
But this treatment approach has not been well-studied. Waiting too long to start radiation can increase the chance of the cancer coming back.
Hormone therapy: Hormone therapy is often used as treatment after surgery or as treatment for advanced breast cancer in women with hormone receptor-positive estrogen or progesterone breast cancer.
However, many people wonder about the safety of cancer treatment — especially chemotherapy — during pregnancy. In general, most experts agree that the best cancer treatment option for a pregnant woman is to have surgery right away, if possible, to remove all or part of the tumor, then wait until the second trimester to begin chemotherapy, if necessary.
However, radiation therapy and hormone therapy should be delayed until after a pregnant woman has given birth. If you are pregnant and have been diagnosed with cancer, you can discuss your treatment options with an expert at Moffitt Cancer Center with or without a referral. Our multispecialty team will work closely with you to develop an individualized treatment plan based on your unique circumstances. Request an appointment by calling or completing a new patient registration form online.
Tags: Chemotherapy Cancer Treatment. Nurses administer chemotherapeutic drugs in liquid and pill form to patients with various types of cancers. Please stay on topic.
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