Chamotherapy and Pregnant Woman

Chemotherapy does not appear to harm the foetus in women who have been diagnosed with cancer while pregnant, although many oncologists are still very reluctant to recommend chemotherapy for these patients.

"We hear the oncologist saying they don't want to use chemo for these patients because it might harm the foetus, but our response to that is what good does it do if you get a neonate who doesn't have a mother because she died of cancer that could have been treated," said Elyce Cardonick, MD, of the department of maternal and fetal medicine at Thomas Jefferson Medical College, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Dr. Cardonick presented the results of two studies today at the 22nd annual meeting of the Society for Maternal and Fetal Medicine (SMFM).

The initial study involved 48 women diagnosed with cancer during pregnancy (four of six women terminated the pregnancy upon physician recommendation). There were breast, thyroid, central nervous system, melanoma, Hodgkin's lymphoma, ovarian, lung, leukaemia, vulvar, cervical, and bladder cancers. All patients except one were diagnosed with a primary tumour. There was no increase in pre-term delivery and neonates did not have any growth restrictions, cancer or medical illnesses at 17 months follow-up.

Neonates had a mean gestational age at delivery of 37.4 (±2.8) weeks and a mean birth weight of 2,798 (±749) grams. Only two of the infants (4.8 percent) were less than the 10th percentile for weight at gestational age.

Of the 22 women who elected to have chemotherapy (none received radiation), most received a regimen of adriamycin/cytoxan for at least four treatment cycles. None of the women received 5-FU as base therapy, and those who were diagnosed with breast cancer were not offered tamoxifen because at that time, no studies showed that it was safe to use during pregnancy.

Chemotherapy was not started until at least the 20th week of pregnancy.

In this group of patients, none of the neonates had neutropenia, alopecia, myocarditis or rash. Aside from some women experiencing dehydration, there were no maternal complications.

One woman who had Hodgkin's lymphoma and was treated with a regimen of adriamycin/bleomycin/dacarbazine and vinblastine gave birth to a baby with syndactyly of the right hand. One woman with breast cancer gave birth to a baby with respiratory distress syndrome.

The incidence of pre-term delivery was not increased in this cohort of women, although 10 percent of the children were lower than the 10th percentile for birth weight.

There were no still births or perinatal complications.

Dr. Cardonick said that cancer in pregnancy is not a rare occurrence, and that it can be managed effectively and safely by a multi-disciplinary team.

"Chemotherapy is safe for most of these women and for their foetuses, but a lot of doctors still won't touch it," she said. Some of them are starting to come around, but there is still a lot of resistance to treating these women with chemo because they're all worried about the harm they might do to the foetus, she added.

The Father of Chemotherapy

Paul Ehrlich (1854–1915) was born near Breslau—then in Germany, but now known as Wroclaw, Poland—and studied to become a medical doctor at the university there and in Strasbourg, Freiburg im Breisgau, and Leipzig. In Breslau he worked in the laboratory of his cousin, Carl Weigert, a pathologist who pioneered the use of aniline dyes as biological stains. Ehrlich became interested in the selectivity of dyes for specific organs, tissues, and cells, and he continued his investigations at the Charité Hospital in Berlin. After he showed that dyes react specifically with various components of blood cells and the cells of other tissues, he began to test the dyes for therapeutic properties to determine whether they could kill off pathogenic microbes.


The German government honored Paul Ehrlich by putting his portrait on the 200 deutsche mark banknote.

After his own bout with tuberculosis—probably contracted in the laboratory—and his subsequent cure with Robert Koch's tuberculin therapy, Ehrlich focused his attention on bacterial toxins and antitoxins. At first he worked in a small private laboratory, but as the quality of his work became recognized by Koch and others, he was able to command more and better resources—eventually the State Serum Institute in Frankfurt. In 1908 he received the Nobel Prize in medicine for his work on immunization.

The German government honored Paul Ehrlich by putting his portrait on the 200 deutsche mark banknote.

In Frankfurt he continued to look for chemical agents to use against disease. He obtained the cooperation of the nearby Cassella chemical works, which donated samples of new compounds produced in their laboratories for him to test for biological activity. In 1906 Georg-Speyer-Haus, a research institute for chemotherapy, was established with its own staff under Ehrlich's direction. The research programs were guided in part by Ehrlich's theory that the germicidal capability of a molecule depended on its structure, particularly its side-chains, which could bind to the disease-causing organism. The most successful products of this quest were Salvarsan (1909–1910)—dihydroxydiaminoarsenobenzenedihydrochloride—and Neosalvarsan (1912), the most effective drugs for treating syphilis until the advent of antibiotics in the 1940s.

12 Tips to Avoid Cancer

Cancer is a disease which is the scourge of every person. People said that cancer is a disease of 21st century. Can we prevent cancer or at least stop the occurrence of this disease from our bodies?

Cancer can be caused by factors outside the body, for example, eating patterns, lifestyle, environment, and others. How strong is our attempt, we can not 100% eliminate the causes of the incidence of cancer that comes from the factor in everyday lifestyle.

However, the risk can be pressed as low as possible. Next, we will present 12 tips to reducing the risk. When all this is done regularly and continuously, we can hopefully prevent the occurrence of cancer until at least 60%.

This step is very easy to do in the days of our lives everyday.

1. Consume food with balanced nutrition.
At this time we can easily buy food at fast food restaurants or buy food at the supermarket. When we examine these foods can contain additive material and natrium in the large number, and does not contain enough vegetables. In other words, the food does not contain nutrients in the enough number for the body.

When we often consume foods like this, our bodies will experience malnutrition, and this can also be one of the causes of the occurrence of cancer. Therefore, we should eat as much as possible the amount of vitamin needed by the body from various types of food.

2. Change eating patterns every day.
Many people have certain foods that liked or disliked. The tendency of the people to eat only foods that are preferred. While the food is not liked will not be touched even a bit, even though this food contain a lot of elements of nutrition that is needed by the body.

If this continues to occur, we will suffer a case of imbalance in the nutrient feed. Take the nutrient elements required by the body in everyday lifestyle.

If this continues to happen, there will be a disproportion of the nutrition. Taking nutrient elements needed by the body from various types of food is important to do.



3. Dont eat too much.
In Japan, there is a proverb which means "to eat sufficiently make a long age." Revealed that this proverbial meal patterns associated with the age of someone. Eating with sufficiently, not excessive, will make you live longer and can also prevent the occurrence of cancer.

Consumes vegetables and fruits that contain fiber and many vitamins basically will not cause problems. However, when it is excess fat content limit, will speed up cancer cells in breast cancer or colon cancer.

4. Don’t drink too much alcohol.
Alcohol can cure a variety of disease when it is consumed in the right amount. Perhaps, a half-shot red wine every day is very useful for our body. But if it is too much, alcohol not only brings a bad influence on the function of the heart, but can also provoke the occurrence of bowel cancer and alimentary tract.
In addition, various kinds of food using the alcohol base material, will damage the balance of nutrient element. This also can be a factor triggered the occurrence of cancer.

5. Stop Smoking.
The number of deaths caused by cancer, a comparison between smokers and non smokers are 1.65 times more. It is understood that cigarettes can cause cancer. Cigarettes is also associated with the high number of death.
In terms of health, smoking is not only harming for the smokers only, but also harm people nearby. Once addicted to cigarettes, will be very difficult to stop. For people like this, at least try to reduce the number of cigarettes each day.

6. Consume foods that contain fibers and vitamins.
Vitamins works to improve the metabolic function of the body. If the body metabolism does not run well, especially in the body in the intestine, will be making some kind of body waste that can trigger cancer cells.

Fibers is needed to clean and remove harmful waste buried in the intestine. To get vitamins A, C, E and foods that contain fiber, it is recommended to consume many vegetables and fruits, especially green and yellow colored.

It is time to change our eating patterns that are usually based on material that contains animal protein, such as meat and fish, to a pattern which concentrates on eating vegetables and fruits.

7. Reduce salty and hot food.
There are connectivity between consumes too much salt to stomach cancer and intestines cancer. Salt not only triggers the occurrence of any cancer, but also can be the cause of the occurrence of various diseases due to the pattern of life, such as hypertension, and others. It is better to consume the amount of salt not more than 10 grams in one day.
Researcher found high number of alimentary canal cancer in the region that has a habit to consume hot food. Try to let the food cool a little bit,and wait some time until the steam heat is dissapear from food and then food can be eaten with more delicious.

8. Avoid the burnt foods.
The food that burnt due to excessive heat can cause many disease. And it is likely triggered the emergence of various kinds of cancer cells.
However it is alright to eat the food that burnt a little.

9. Be careful on the food that contains fungi.
Usually people do not eat moldy food. However, the type of fungus that grows on the peanut or peas are also often difficult to see so that we might accidentally ate the moldy food.
In fact the type of fungus found on corn and beans can contains a substance that can triggers cancer cells. In addition all food must be checked carefully before it is consumed, we must also be careful to store away food.

10. Dont be too often get exposed to sunlight.
People who have a lot of melamine substance on his body are likely resistant to the influence of ultraviolet rays and is also not easy to be black. However, when continuously exposed to ultra violet, will affect to the body especially the skin.
Skin will burn and if this situation persists continuously will increase the risk of cancer.
Exposure to sunlight is important for people. However, it should be carried out sufficiently otherwise ultraviolet rays will cause damage.

11. Enough Exercise.
Nutrition, exercise, and rest are three basic keys to healthy body. By maintaining healthy body also means that the body does not easily affected by cancer.
Stress can triggers cancer. With exercise, our lives will become fresh again and the stress can be avoided.

12. Maintain Cleanliness.
If we do not keep the body clean, can increase the risk of skin cancer, penis cancer, or womb cancer. Therefore, keep your body clean at any time. Take a bath, in addition to a clean body, will also cause a fresh feeling.