Cancer during pregnancy is not something that is heard off. For a considerable amount of time oncology pregnancy medicine was not even sure on how to deal with it. In the modern days women are procuring treatment and even continuing it during the stage of pregnancy. Cancer is not affecting the baby in a direct way.  If you have cancer during pregnancy it does go on to pose complications for both the mother as well as the health care team during pregnancy. In this regard it is indeed important to find across a health care professional who has experience in dealing with patients affected by cancer.

The type of cancer that does tend to have an impact is all the more in the younger age bracket. Some of the type of cancer is

• Cervical cancer
• Breast cancer
• Melanoma
• Thyroid cancer

As per immunology in pregnancy medicine, most women are prone to breast cancer during pregnancy. Around 1 out of 30000 women face this cancer at this stage. Breasts are known to change their texture along with their colour during this phase of pregnancy. In some cases they may want to be abnormal as well. It is quiet common that pregnant women may be diagnosed with breast cancer than non-pregnant women.

Treatment of cancer during pregnancy

When you are considering treatment for cancer during pregnancy you need to consider the best options for treatment and do compare it with the possible risks posed to the growing baby. The recommendations of treatment is dependent on the following

• The stage where the pregnancy is currently
• Location, size , type and size of the cancer
• The woman in question and the wishes of her family

In fact treatment should be planned in such a way that both the mother and the baby are safe. What is observed that any cancer treatment during pregnancy involves work with a multi-disciplinary team? The team does monitor a woman during pregnancy and figures out any chances to both the mother along with the growing baby.

In case of some cancer treatment it is likely to harm the developing baby in the first 3 months. So these form of treatments may be kept later for the second or third trimesters. If the cancer is being diagnosed in the later stages of pregnancy, you would need to delay the treatment till the baby is being born. This is all the more so when it happens to be a premature delivery.

Some types of treatment like radiation therapy is going to be harmful at all stages. So doctors do not prescribe this form of treatment at any stage during pregnancy. In this form of treatment high energy  X rays are being used to destroy cancer cells. In fact risk to the developing baby depends upon the dose of radiation dose and the region of the body which is under consideration.

Doctors advise pregnant women who are part of chemotherapy not to breastfeed their kids at this point of time.