Can chemotherapy harm your baby if you're pregnant?

Question

A friend of mine is 4 months pregnant and just found out she has breast cancer. She's 30 years old.
She refuses to abort the baby to have the chemo done, so the doctors are going to give her the treatment while she's still pregnant. And apparently they told her that it shouldn't harm the baby because she's so far along already.

I don't think she made the right choice, and I think the doctors are lying to her.

Has anyone else been in this situation? What did you decide?

What can I say to her to support her even though I think she's making the wrong choice?

After the baby is born she's going to have a mastectomy. They are going to give her 6 more weeks until the c-section.

Answer 1

Recent studies have shown that after the first trimester, it is safe to have chemo while pregnant. Please read the article from April:

http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2006/apr/06041310.html

Answer 2

I just read an article in Ladies' Home Journal, October 2006, that said there are types of chemo that can be given to pregnant women after the first trimester without harming the baby.

Answer 3

I would think it would depend on the type of chemo your friend will get. I do however know of a woman who was pregnant who did part of her chemo treatments while pregnant, then the rest after she delivered.

Please support your friend in any way you can. That is why you are her friend. I lost some "friends" when I was diagnosed, please don't be like those people, she is going through the most intense pain possible right now, she needs you love, not your disagreement.

Answer 4

Yes, the chemo will cause problems with the pregnancy. Most doctors will tell a pregnant woman that either she abort the fetus in order to get treated right away, or carry the baby to term and risk having the cancer spread more before she's well enough to be treated. I'd seriously get a second opinion on this.

Answer 5

I work on a Haematology ward in the UK. The doctors job is to save the life of the patient, not the unborn child. Chemotherapy will harm the baby, no matter how far on she is. If she starts chemo now, the baby is most likely to die. I can't believe these doctors have told her the treatment won't harm the baby. Their suppose to give you truthful facts.

Answer 6

Depends on the drugs given. I saw this woman once on GMA. She was pregnant and the doctor put her on chemo because he said the drugs would only briefly pass her uterus and her baby turned out fine. Tell her to get a second opinion.

Answer 7

You should start doing research immediately to help your friend find answers. There are websites with information for women who have cancer and are pregnant. These types of groups often have the most up to date information as they share it among themselves.

Here is one:
http://www.motherisk.org/
"Our Mandate
To provide authoritative information and guidance to pregnant or lactating patients and their health care providers regarding the fetal risks associated with drug, chemical, infection, disease and radiation exposure(s) during pregnancy.

To research unanswered questions on the safety of drugs, chemicals, infection, disease and radiation during pregnancy and lactation, and maintain a vital training and educational program in the area of reproductive and developmental toxicology at the undergraduate, graduate and postgraduate levels."

Check out the cancer in pregnancy forum and talk with other people in the same situation. They can answer many of your questions:

http://www.motherisk.org/prof/forum_subcategory.jsp?subcategory_id=31

Answer 8

There have been studies done on this and most conclude that it is safe in the 2nd and 3rd trimesters.

Here is a link to breastcancer.org that give the details

Answer 9

Yea... Id seek a second opinion from an oncologist and a pediatrician. Something does NOT seem right here. I think she will lose the baby for sure or it could be born with deformaties.

Answer 10

HERE IS WHAT I FOUND TO ANSWER YOUR QUESTION.

Chemotherapy for Breast Cancer During Pregnancy
Study Assesses Safety of Breast Cancer Chemotherapy During Pregnancy

Article date: 2000/01/11


Breast cancer associated with pregnancy is rare, but it does occur during about one in 3,500 pregnancies. It is a difficult and challenging problem for women and their physicians, who must weigh the potential benefits of treatment against the risk of side effects that might harm the mother and the unborn child.
But women with breast cancer who are pregnant can receive chemotherapy during the middle and third trimesters of pregnancy and still have a good chance of giving birth to healthy babies, according to a study published in a recent issue of the journal Cancer (Vol. 86, No. 11). "In this study, pregnant women in their second and third trimesters appear to have undergone optimal chemotherapy with no complications in the majority of cases," wrote the French research team led by Pierre-Ludovic Giacalone, MD, of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Hospital Arnaud de Villeneuve in Montpellier, France.

The researchers examined survey data provided by members of two professional societies of French oncologists and obstetricians regarding their use of chemotherapy in treating women with pregnancy-associated breast cancer. The researchers included 20 women in the study. All had at least one cycle of chemotherapy for breast cancer during pregnancy. Two women were treated with chemotherapy during the first trimester of pregnancy. Both of them experienced a miscarriage. Of the 18 women treated with chemotherapy after the first trimester, 17 had live births. Among those, three infants had complications directly related to chemotherapy, including one death.

"Breast cancer during pregnancy occurs more commonly in women who are older during pregnancy, in their later 30s and early 40s, when the incidence of breast cancer is also higher. The concern, as is the concern with treatment of any cancer during pregnancy, is danger to the baby from the treatments," said Jeanne A. Petrek, MD, Director of the Surgical Program of the Evelyn H. Lauder Breast Center at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.

Dr. Giacalone and colleagues said more research is needed to determine the long-term effects of chemotherapy on babies whose mothers were treated during pregnancy. They also said an interdisciplinary team of specialists, including an obstetrician, oncologist, and neonatalogist should facilitate treatment decisions.

"Almost everyone would agree that pregnant women [with cancer] should be treated at a center where most the most experienced and interdisciplinary efforts are obtained," Dr. Petrek said.