> 
> There is more than one consideration in these scenarios. You are balancing competing goals. Treating/killing the malignant cells while trying to maintain the healthy growth of the pregnancy. Many chemotherapeutic agents are harmful to babies in utero. A pregnant patient undergoing treatment for cancer will be undergoing additional monitoring. The chemotherapy agents can cause growth retardation, blood dyscrasias, and microcephaly if the baby survives. Sometimes the baby must be delivered early due to the adverse responses. Mothers at times opt for suboptimal treatment regimen during their gestation to improve their child's outcome. The babies also need to be monitored in the NICU for signs of bone marrow suppression and be followed by developmental specialists through early childhood. Some of the medications are indeed passed through breastmilk which also leads to restrictions on staff members allowed to handle & administer the agents.  It's part of the dance of cancer treatment still today in the 21st century--killing the malignancy and trying to preserve as much as possible of the healthy normal person. It is even more heart-rending with a young person and all involved do keep in mind that this may be the last child this woman will bear.

Sincerely,
Linda Madsen, RN
Wylie TX
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