Health1 min read

Opinion: Cancer patients are often pressured to end a pregnancy early. They shouldn’t be

By · Via STAT Health · Published by Everything Blog

In short

Fear of malpractice, reluctance to conduct imaging, and overlapping symptoms frequently lead doctors to delay diagnostic care for pregnant cancer patients, causing later-stage diagnoses. Studies show that administering chemotherapy during gestation allows infants to reach full term safely without worsening maternal prognosis. Long-term research indicates children exposed to prenatal chemotherapy develop normally, whereas infants delivered preterm to bypass treatments experience worse outcomes. Treating pregnant patients promptly as if they were not pregnant has proven to be an effective medical strategy.

Key points

  • Pregnant cancer patients exhibit survival rates comparable to non-pregnant women with the…: Pregnant cancer patients exhibit survival rates comparable to non-pregnant women with the same diseases.
  • Diagnostic delays driven by physician hesitation and shared symptoms often lead to danger…: Diagnostic delays driven by physician hesitation and shared symptoms often lead to dangerous later-stage cancer diagnoses.
  • Electing early preterm delivery to facilitate cancer treatment results in worse developme…: Electing early preterm delivery to facilitate cancer treatment results in worse developmental outcomes for infants than prenatal chemotherapy exposure.

Sources checked by our analysis pipeline: 1

Early in my career as a maternal fetal medicine specialist, I met two pregnant women who had ovarian cancer. One of them was expecting twins. They were introduced to be each other’s support network during and after the pregnancy, often meeting for coffee with their newborns and comparing wigs after hair loss from the chemotherapy they received.

The mother of twins is still alive today. The other didn’t survive beyond her child’s second birthday. When I spoke with the one who is still alive, she was distraught that her new friend died of her disease. “Why did she die and I am still alive?” she asked.

I didn’t know how to answer her out loud, but in my head, I thought: “Your doctor went to the library and researched managing ovarian cancer during pregnancy, and her doctor didn’t.”

The woman who lived was treated as if she were not pregnant. Without delay, she underwent a CT scan and workup of her ovarian cyst, and even received chemotherapy while pregnant. Her twins are now 28 years old, and all are thriving.

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