A recent study presented at ESMO 2014 shows the importance of thinking about contraception during cancer diagnosis and cancer treatment.

Sarah van Peer and colleagues from Dr Frederic Amant's group (University Hospitals Leuven in Belgium) checked the database of the International Network for Cancer Infertility and Pregnancy for women who became pregnant during cancer diagnosis or during treatment.

The INCIP database currently includes 1011 patients from 21 countries (at the time it included 897 patients).

Overall, 3.23% (29/897) of the patients in the database became pregnant after cancer diagnosis or during treatment.

Of those 29 patients, three pregnancies were identified during diagnostic examinations for suspected malignancy but before definite diagnosis, 18 during treatment, and seven after cancer diagnosis but before treatment was started.

“The core message from our results is that it is vital for doctors and patients to discuss contraception during cancer diagnosis and cancer treatment. Although fertility issues are not the focus of attention at this time, it is necessary to provide advice about contraception. And although we know it’s possible to treat patients with chemotherapy/radiotherapy during pregnancy when necessary, it’s still better to avoid this situation, if possible.”

“Discussion about effective contraception remains a high priority for oncologists dealing with young patients with cancer. The incidence of unplanned pregnancy during cancer treatment probably remains a rare event. Nonetheless, the high emotional impact of an unplanned pregnancy and the possible maternal consequences in terms of treatment modification should prompt more effective interventions in this field”, said Dr Fedro Alessandro Peccatori, Director of the Fertility & Procreation Unit at the European Institute of Oncology’s Division of Gynaecologic Oncology.

Source: ESMO