[Pregnancy after malignant melanoma. A follow-up of 23 patients]

There is little known on the risks associated with pregnancy occurring after primary therapy of a malignant melanoma. Out of a total of 2850 melanoma patients there were 23 women (20 in stage I, 3 in stage II) in whom 33 pregnancies occurred in the course of the follow-up. No metastases developed in 18 patients with a total of 25 pregnancies whereas a relapse occurred in 3 patients in stage I and 2 patients in stage II. The induction of metastases by the pregnancy in 3 of these patients is unlikely owing to the absence of a temporal relationship or because of an existing stage II and only in 2 patients did the temporal relationship between spreading of the tumor and pregnancy suggest an influence of pregnancy on malignant melanoma.