Cancer Articles (Dr. S.N White)

The treatment depends upon the extent of the cancer and upon how pregnant the woman is when it is discovered. A punch biopsy can be taken at any time during pregnancy if there is a lesion on the cervix. If no lesion is present but the smear is suspicious, most doctors wait until the end of the third month to carry out a conization, thus reducing the risk of abortion. If a Class 3 smear is discovered late in pregnancy, a vaginal delivery may be possible with delay of conization until several weeks after the birth. If a Class 4 or Class 5 smear is discovered, conization is usually postponed, an early cesarean birth is planned, and conization or hysterectomy is performed several weeks later, followed by radiation therapy. In the event that cancer is found during pregnancy, this is amazingly upsetting for the lady and her accomplice. When all is said in done, a pregnant lady can get any possible malignant growth. Hopeful moms are regularly influenced by cervical malignancy (cervi...

Can a woman who has had breast cancer safely have a baby?  Most doctors discourage women from becoming pregnant for from 3 to 5 years following treatment for breast cancer, since recurrences most often happen during this period of time. Recent research has shown that pregnancy after breast cancer has no effect on survival rates. Statistics for women who have had breast cancer and become pregnant are at least as good as those of similar women who do not become pregnant. What is the outlook for women who discover breast cancer during pregnancy?  About 7 percent of women who develop breast cancer happen to be pregnant at the time of diagnosis. The outlook for a pregnant woman is just as favorable as that for a nonpregnant woman of the same age with a similar stage of disease provided that the cancer is diagnosed and treated promptly. When a suspicious lump is found, prompt biopsy is just as appropriate for a pregnant woman as for a nonpregnant woman. Biopsy can usuall...

Statins are not to be used during pregnancy they may cause damage to the fetus or by nursing mothers. If you are a woman of childbearing age, you should only use statins if you definitely do not plan to become pregnant. The general rule in medicine today is that only in situations of extremely high blood cholesterol that do not respond to nondrug treatments like diet should statins be given to women of childbearing age.

Can i be pregnant with diabetes? We assume from this question that you have already wrestled through the basic Everywoman life decision of whether or not to have children and have concluded that you want to, but you worry about the effect your diabetes will have on your baby and vice versa. If that is the case, then the first step is to consult both your diabetologist (or internist or family doctor) and a gynecologist to see if there is any physical reason why pregnancy would be a poor risk for you. If their reaction is positive, then you can be cheered by the news that the death rate of babies of diabetic mothers has been significantly reduced in the past ten years and is now closer to that of the general population. Both mother and child come through successfully more than 90 percent of the time. To improve your odds even further you should heed the advice of Dr. Edith Miller of the Joslin Clinic who says that diabetic women who want to have children should be in the best p...