The previous winner of the TV show Alone Australia was Gina Chuck. Assessment Just a few days after she was diagnosed with breast cancer, she discovered she was pregnant. She explains. In his recent book Her experience with chemotherapy and what happened next.
Thankfully, cancer diagnoses while pregnant and within the yr after birth are rare. But such cases have gotten common. In parts Of The world, Including Australia. Researchers aren't exactly sure why.
Here's what researchers know to this point, and treatment options.
How rare is that this?
A New South Wales study It found that in 1994, about 94 cancers were diagnosed for each 100,000 women who gave birth while pregnant or inside a yr of giving birth. It rose to about 163 per 100,000 in 2013. Although these statistics are greater than ten years old, they're probably the most recent and rigorous data available in Australia.
A 2023 Swedish study There were similar findings for pregnancies in 1973-2017.
Both studies found that 1 / 4 of pregnancy-related cancers are diagnosed before birth, with the rest diagnosed within the yr after birth.
What form of cancer are we talking about?
Britain's first Comprehensive assessment Cancer diagnoses while pregnant observed in 2016-2020.
This study, the NSW study, and others found that breast and skin cancers (mostly melanoma) were probably the most common pregnancy-associated cancers. This group also had higher rates of thyroid, gynecological (especially cervical and ovarian) and blood cancers.
A UK study found that about 92 percent of cancers were newly diagnosed and about 82 percent had symptoms. The majority (81%) were treated with curative intent and roughly 82% of pregnancies related to a cancer diagnosis resulted in a live birth.
However, 20% of the moms died by the top of the five-year study period. Cancers of the stomach (gut) were of particular concern. They had a mortality rate of about 46 percent and were related to diagnosis at a more advanced stage of cancer.
This could also be because many stomach cancer symptoms corresponding to abdominal pain, fatigue and acid reflux disease overlap with pregnancy symptoms. In other words, some cancer symptoms will be mistaken for pregnancy symptoms, “masking” or delaying the diagnosis of cancer.
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Why are such cases increasing?
A wide selection of cancers occurring during and after pregnancy suggests a variety of contributing aspects.
Women in high socioeconomic countries are having children later in life and the best risk for a lot of cancers is advancing age. However, evidence that age is a significant component in pregnancy-related cancers is inconclusive. This will be the case for some but not all cases.
Another factor could also be increased consumption. Prenatal genetic screening test in early pregnancy. They analyze DNA taken from the mother's blood to detect chromosomal abnormalities within the developing fetus. But these tests also can give information concerning the mother's chromosomes. This has led to the diagnosis of asymptomatic Hodgkin disease, breast and colorectal cancer in pregnant women.
Estrogen and progesterone are two hormones which are vital for the expansion and development of breast tissue and for supporting other features of a healthy pregnancy. They also can contribute Cancer developmentEspecially breast cancer. However, it's unclear whether that is linked to increased rates of pregnancy-associated cancer.
Other cancers, corresponding to skin cancer, are linked to environmental aspects corresponding to UV exposure. Notably, melanoma was the highest cancer related to pregnancy within the NSW study, reflecting the high rate of skin cancer within the Indigenous population. Other environmental aspects, corresponding to smoking and human papillomavirus, are related to cervical cancer. Again we aren't sure whether such aspects are related to increased rates of pregnancy-associated cancer.
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What happens after diagnosis?
Pregnancy complicates cancer diagnosis, as any potential treatment for the mother may jeopardize the health and viability of the fetus. So some features of treatment May need to be adjusted.
Surgery can often be done during any trimester depending on where the cancer is positioned.
Radiotherapy requires careful planning since the effect of radiation on the fetus is determined by the stage of development, where the radiation is applied to the body, and the dose.
Chemotherapy needs to be avoided in the primary trimester on account of possible toxic effects on the fetus. But it may well often be given within the second and third trimester. Chemotherapy needs to be avoided inside three weeks of birth to scale back the prospect of bleeding and infection in newborns, who can have weakened immune systems from chemo.
More targeted immunotherapies are often given to the mother after birth. Depending on the treatment, she could also be advised to not breastfeed. This is since the drug can pass from the mother to the child through breast milk.
What happens to children?
Reassuringly, the NSW data found no increase in the speed of babies dying at birth in the event that they were born to moms with pregnancy-related cancer.
However, premature births were more planned. This is because women are offered labor and/or caesarean section to facilitate the mother's cancer treatment, while minimizing treatment-related risks to the unborn child.
There were also higher rates of babies born with low birth weight and low Apgar scores (indicators of a baby's condition shortly after birth) – possibly related to being born prematurely.
What do researchers need to know?
We have lots to find out about what's behind the rising rates of pregnancy-related cancers, and what women diagnosed with these cancers can expect.
We also have to integrate cancer and maternity data into national databases. This will allow us to see which areas to prioritize for further research, inform clinical guidelines for cancer screening during and after pregnancy, and reply to future screening programs or treatments. The review will help.