Not So Harmful

In what could set new standards for cancer treatments, a study published in The New England Journal of Medicine states that pregnant women diagnosed with cancer can undergo treatment without the risk of transmitting the disease to unborn babies. The study notes that chemotherapy, radiotherapy and surgery will not harm patients’ babies.

This has been concluded after a study conducted on 129 children exposed to cancer treatment during the last two trimesters of their mother's pregnancy showed they had normal cognitive and cardiac functions. The findings suggest that women who have been diagnosed with cancer should not delay their treatment nor should they terminate pregnancy. The study also revealed that children suffer more from prematurity than from chemotherapy. So avoiding premature births is very crucial.

The study involved examining babies between 18 months and 36 months wherein it was found that they had developed normally as compared to other children. More than half of the women in this study suffered from breast cancer whereas 16 percent had blood cancer.