Cancer in Pregnancy: Maternal and Fetal Risks

Cancer in pregnancy, although thankfully a relatively uncommon occurrence, presents physicians and their patients with a major dilemma. The urge to use the highest tolerable doses of chemotherapy, high doses of irradiation and surgery has to be weighed carefully against their risks to the unborn baby. This book is the very first to attempt to quantify these risks and provide physicians with a core of knowledge that will be very relevant to making sound clinical decisions in the face of sometimes conflicting interests. The volume evaluates the results of the Motherisk Program, which was set up specifically to address this problem, and reviews maternal and fetal outcomes from a sizeable database of the most common cases of cancer in pregnancy. In reviewing this program and the experience of others in this area, this volume sets out to create a clinically relevant tool for oncologists, obstetrician-gynecologists, perinatologists and neonatologists.