A recent report shows that 1 in 1000 pregnant women will be faced with the additional burden of cancer.
For the medical profession this means that all care must be a careful balance between the requirements of the baby and the treatment of the mother to be.
A lot of the reasons for the increased number of cancers diagnosed in expectant mothers is the fact that more women are delaying childbirth.
The biggest percentage of the disease occurring during gestation is breast cancer as well as lymphoma, thyroid and cervical cancer.
The director of Labour and Delivery at the Holy Cross Hospital, Eileen Ludden, explains that the many physical changes in a woman’s body during this time can sometimes aggravate the conditions that lead to cancer.
These include fluctuating hormone levels in particular estrogen, and alterations in the body’s immune system.
Early diagnosis just like in all cases is vital for successful cancer treatment and often the outcome of the disease, long term is similar to women that are not pregnant.
The main problem is that certain symptoms will be hidden amongst the various ailments that a woman is advised as normal when having a baby.
In some cases pregnancy will give certain women rare opportunities to avail of the health services and in doing so cancers are detected that would have likely got unnoticed.
The Center for Life and Providence Hospital notes, that the uninsured do not have access to regular pap smear tests and other preventative measures.
If urgent medical intervention is required for a cancer sufferer who is pregnant then oncologists are well aware of the precautions that would need to be taken at this special time.