By Suzanne Rostler
NEW YORK, Jun 13 (Reuters Health) - Women who are diagnosed with cervical
cancer during pregnancy seem to do better if they deliver by cesarean section, a
new report suggests.
The risk of being diagnosed with the cancer in pregnancy is rare--occurring
in 0.05% of all pregnant women--but cervical cancer is still the most common
malignancy associated with pregnancy, according to the report in the June issue
of Obstetrics and Gynecology.
In a study of 83 women diagnosed with cervical cancer either during
pregnancy or shortly after giving birth, researchers found that the cancer was
more likely to recur in either the pelvis or a distant site such as a lung after
a vaginal delivery than after a cesarean section. In an interview with Reuters
Health, study co-author Dr. Joel Sorosky from the University of Iowa in Iowa
City explained that "tumor cells may be spread locally and distantly by the
dilation of a cervix with cancer."
The cancer had no impact on the newborns regardless of the method of
delivery, Sorosky added.
The women--56 who had cancer diagnosed during pregnancy and 27 whose cancers
was diagnosed within 6 months of giving birth--were compared with women who were
diagnosed with cervical cancer at least 5 years after giving birth.
Among those diagnosed with cervical cancer 6 months after delivery, 14% of
patients who had a cesarean section had a cancer recurrence, compared with 59%
of women who delivered vaginally.
"Our study suggests that vaginal delivery is associated with poorer survival
for both those diagnosed prenatally and postpartum," the authors conclude.
The researchers add that the findings highlight the need for cervical
screening in the early stages of pregnancy. Indeed, women diagnosed with
cervical cancer late in their pregnancy or after they had given birth tended to
have cancer that had already spread.
