Mother and baby well despite woman's breast cancer detected mid-pregnancy
Renji Hospital has successful treated a woman whose breast cancer was detected during her pregnancy.
The hospital arranged a detailed plan to ensure the safety of both mother and baby, defying the taboo that people have to choose between the patient or the unborn baby.
The woman surnamed Wang was diagnosed with breast cancer overseas while five months pregnant. Confronted by the disease and worried about the safety of her unborn baby, she rushed back to Shanghai and went to Renji Hospital's Dr Lu Jinsong, who had conducted breast cancer surgery on her mother nine years earlier.
According to experts, breast cancer treatments during pregnancy and the breast-feeding period are more risky, as the treatment affects the safety of both mother and baby.
Many treatments, such as radiation and targeted therapy cannot be carried out, while the patient still faces the risk of the cancer spreading. The situation can further risk the life of both mother and fetus.
Since Wang was in the middle stage of pregnancy, the fetus was not fully developed, but her breast cancer needed treatment and the longer she waited, the worse it would become.
Doctors from Renji Hospital conduct breast cancer surgery on the patient after she delivered her baby.
Lu invited the top experts from multiple departments to discuss the case and worked out a plan to offer intervention and treatment in different steps to maximize the safety of both mother and baby.
Doctors decided to perform caesarean surgery once the fetus was 32 weeks old to best ensure its survival and health, with the mother undergoing breast cancer surgery immediately after the delivery, followed by post-surgery chemotherapy and targeted treatment.
The treatment was conducted perfectly in line with the schedule. The mother underwent breast cancer surgery the day after delivering her baby, then started follow-up treatment. Both mother and baby had been released from the hospital and were in stable condition, the doctors said.
Experts from Renji Hospital said its breast surgery department has treated four pregnant women who were diagnosed with breast cancer in the past six months, and all had surgery and delivered their babies successfully.
"Such patients are highly risky cases, which require careful evaluation, monitoring, and treatment by multiple departments," Lu said. "We are offering individualized treatment in line with each patient's own condition and stage of pregnancy to best ensure the safety and health of the mother and baby."
Lu suggested that people with a family history of breast cancer or ovarian cancer should receive genetic consultation and cancerous gene screening in time for cancer prevention and control.
