Symptom control in the pregnant cancer patient

While much attention has been devoted to cytotoxic drugs and radiation therapy in the pregnant cancer patient, the drugs used for management of symptoms and complications related to cancer during pregnancy have been overlooked. There is substantial overlap between the symptoms of cancer and cancer management and the symptoms related to pregnancy. The mainstay of symptom management is drug therapy and the potential for a drug to be embryotoxic or teratogenic depends on when it is given. In general, drugs not proven safe in pregnancy should be withheld, especially during the first trimester. The few drugs that have been proven to be teratogenic are alcohol, thalidomide, the folic acid antagonists (which includes methotrexate), diethylstilbestrol, and the vitamin A isomers, but there is a good deal of uncertainty about many other therapeutic agents. Placental transport of drugs from mother to fetus must be taken into consideration from the fifth week of gestation to parturition. Although the first trimester is the time of most organ development in the fetus, the brain continues to develop throughout pregnancy and may be damaged later in pregnancy, resulting in diminished intelligence or behavioral problems. This review will focus on the treatment of the most common symptoms of cancer in a pregnant patient and the potential for fetal damage.