Cancer and pregnancy

Abstract

The diagnosis of malignancy in pregnancy is a complex problem involving two lives. Treatment depends on the period of gestation, type of malignancy, aggressiveness of the tumor and stage of disease. Abdominopelvic radiation is avoided at any stage of pregnancy. Administration of cytotoxic drugs are relatively safe in second and third trimester. We report 13 cases of cancer with pregnancy treated at Regional Cancer Centre, Thiruvananthapuram, India, during 1990-1996. These are probably the first cases of osteogenic sarcoma and nasopharyngeal carcinoma reported during pregnancy.