There are rarely anytime else in a woman’s life when she has to decide between her own life and the life of her developing baby. But when the mother suffers from cancer, it’s becomes a hard decision she is forced to make.

1. Dealing With Cancer During Pregnancy
There are rarely anytime else in a woman’s life when she has to decide between her
own life and the life of her developing baby. But when the mother suffers from cancer,
it’s becomes a hard decision she is forced to make. In the past, expecting mothers have
had to terminate their pregnancy to save themselves. Opting for chemotherapy and
other aggressive medication regimens can cause danger to the child, and that is why
most moms simply opt to have their condition properly treated instead of delivering a
healthy baby.
Thankfully, a recent finding on the presence of cancer in a pregnant mother has helped
clearing a lot of doubts. It has once for all answered a lot of questions that were
common among pregnant mothers. For instance, kids that were in the womb while their
mothers were being administered chemotherapy treatment were often thought to be
prone to malformations and diseases later in life, but the research showed otherwise.
The study considered 128 children with a confirmed history of being exposed to cancer
in their mothers. Chemotherapy Treatment has a detrimental effect on the developing
baby, but with recent developments in the field, targeted therapy has been able to
target the affected areas directly. The overall effect thereof is very little on the baby. The
study followed the development of children after birth and it was found that
chemotherapy didn’t really affect children very significantly, which meant mothers could
now breathe easy regarding the health of their babies despite being on cancer
treatment drugs.
Effect of Chemotherapy during the Trimesters
The first trimester is the most critical when any medicine consumed by the mother can
affect the embryo in its initial state. Oral chemotherapy medicines ingested by the
patient will stump the growth of cells in the embryo. Thankfully, there are very few
cases of cancer being reported during this phase; also, expecting mothers can postpone
treatment until the later semesters which lowers the risk significantly.

2. In the later trimesters, the effect is even reduced with very few reports of babies being
born with deformities or drop in bodyweight. However, do note that surgery or
chemotherapy cannot be postponed until childbirth. Chemotherapy and even surgery
during the later trimesters is usually very safe. Radiation therapy is also safe as far as it
is applied away from the neck. The rest of the body can naturally shield the body by
upto 75% from the effects of radiation.
To know more about best therapy procedures and expert medical advice get in touch
with the best cancer hospital in India.