Women who received radiation therapy for childhood cancers such as leukemia have a higher risk of complications during pregnancy and need to be closely monitored, researchers told attendees at the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology (ESHRE) annual conference held in Amsterdam, Netherlands, this week.
Dr. Sharon Lie Fong, an obstetrician at Erasmus MC University Medical Centre in Rotterdam, presented findings from the first study to compare pregnancy outcomes of childhood cancer survivors with those of normal healthy women.
Fong and colleagues studied data on the pregnancies of 40 women who had been treated for cancer during their childhood. Six of the women had received radiation treatment directly to the abdomen.
Data from the Netherlands Perinatal Register, a national database of pregnancy outcomes, were obtained from the 40 cancer survivors and a control group of more than 9,000 women. Data were matched at age for pregnancy, year and month of delivery, and the number of times the woman had given birth.
Fong reported that women treated with abdominal radiotherapy delivered more prematurely and had more postpartum hemorrhages. She recommended long-term multidisciplinary follow-up, referencing the results of an earlier study determining that the ovarian reserve, or the capacity of the ovary to provide eggs capable of fertilization, is lower with survivors of childhood cancer.
Fong and colleagues are concerned that these women may have an earlier menopause, and recommend that women be counseled about how these potential problems may affect plans for conception.
Related Reading
Ovarian failure relatively rare after childhood cancer, May 30, 2006
Survivors of childhood cancer at increased risk for poor health as adults, September 24, 2003
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