Cancer in pregnancy

Cancer complicating pregnancy is a rare coexistence. The incidence is approximately 1 in 1000 pregnancies and is expected to rise as more women delay childbearing into their later reproductive years. The most common malignancies associated with pregnancy are breast, cervix, leukaemia, lymphoma, melanoma, thyroid, ovary and colon. The diagnostic and therapeutic management of the pregnant patient with cancer is especially difficult because it involves two persons, the mother and the fetus. In the present review recent diagnostic and treatment strategies for breast, Hodgkin’s lymphoma, Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, leukaemia, thyroid tumours, melanoma, colon cancer, gynaecological malignancies, gestational trophoblastic neoplasia, choriocarcinoma and placental site trophoblastic neoplasia during pregnancy are presented.