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A new study claims that chemotherapy treatment for cancer during pregnancy might not be that bad after all.

The study examined 197 women across Europe, diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer while pregnant and went for chemotherapy. The authors of the study examined the newborns of those mothers to check if they had suffered any ill effects due to the cancer drugs. 

While it was found that mothers who underwent chemotherapy during pregnancy delivered babies with lower birth weight on an average, when compared to mothers who did not, there also were some other differences. 

It was found those babies who were exposed to chemotherapy in the uterus did not appear to be at risk of birth defects. They seemed to have no lower Apgar scores, no more frequent blood disorders or alopecia than those whose babies, the mothers of whom did not undergo chemotherapy during pregnancy. 

"If our findings are confirmed by other studies, breast cancer during pregnancy could be treated as it is in non-pregnant women without putting fetal and maternal outcomes at substantially increased risk," said Professor Sibylle Loibl, of the German Breast Group which led the study.

Even the lower birth rate is not believed to be clinically meaningful in this context, believe the authors, since the number of chemotherapy cycles received during pregnancy did not appear to affect the babies' birth weight. 

"In the general population, about 10-15 percent of infants are born preterm, but in our study, 50 percent of women with breast cancer delivered preterm, with 23 percent delivering before the 35th week of gestation. More complications were reported in the group of infants exposed to chemotherapy than in the group not exposed to chemotherapy. However, most complications were reported in babies who were delivered prematurely, irrespective of exposure to chemotherapy."

 "Our findings emphasize the importance of prioritizing a full-term delivery in women who undergo chemotherapy while pregnant", adds Loibl. "Illness and mortality in newborn babies is directly related to gestational age at delivery. This is an important clinical message because the decision to deliver the fetus preterm is often taken without medical indication. Our work suggests that treating patients with breast cancer while pregnant is possible, and there is no need to interrupt the pregnancy or receive inferior therapy."

Olivier Mir of the Cancer Associated with Pregnancy Network, France, highlights the timeliness of the findings however points out that the effect of chemotherapy in pregnant women is under-researched, and that more studies are needed before concluding anything.

"Very few studies have assessed the long-term outcomes of chemotherapy during pregnancy, and further work is needed to determine whether the fetal risks outlined by Loibl and her colleagues could be minimized with optimal drug selection and dosing."