The children of mothers who receive cancer treatment during pregnancy do not seem to suffer ill-effects, according to a European study.
Children are more likely to suffer harm from birth being induced early than from their mother receiving treatments such as chemotherapy, according to researchers.
The conclusions come from a study of 129 children up to the age of three. The children were from Belgium, the Netherlands, Italy and the Czech Republic and they were matched with similar children of the same gestational age born to mothers without cancer.
Their mothers were treated for a range of cancers, mostly for the breast or haematological conditions.
The findings were reported to the European Cancer Congress in Vienna, Austria, yesterday, and reported in theNew England Journal of Medicine.
Some 89 children were exposed to chemotherapy in the womb, four to radiotherapy and 13 to surgery. Other women had mixed treatments and one was treated with interferon-beta.
The researchers found no evidence of harm to mental development and no sign of cardiac abnormality when this was checked.
Gynaecological oncologist Professor Frédéric Amant, of the University Hospitals Leuven, Belgium, said more work could be done to examine the effects of individual drugs.
He said: “Our results show that fear of cancer treatment is no reason to terminate a pregnancy, that maternal treatment should not be delayed and that chemotherapy can be given.
"The study also shows that children suffer more from prematurity than from chemotherapy, so avoiding prematurity is more important than avoiding chemotherapy."
Congress scientific co-chair Professor Peter Naredi said: “These latest results should be reassuring for pregnant women who have been diagnosed with cancer and who will, naturally, be worrying about the best course of action not only for themselves but for their unborn child.
"While further follow-up of these children is required, the important message at this stage seems to be that doctors should not only start cancer treatment immediately, but should also try to maintain the pregnancy to as near full term as possible."
Frédéric Amant et al. Pediatric outcome after maternal cancer diagnosed during pregnancy NEJM 28 September 2015; doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa1508913 [abstract]
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