Lung cancer in the pregnant woman: To treat or not to treat, that is the question

Cancer Treatment in Pregnancy

“…Maternal postpartum outcomes are generally poor, but consistent with what is reported for nonpregnant women presenting with the same stage of disease [ 114 ]. In a recent case series, 28 out of 37 patients were known to be dead within 1 year of delivery [ 115 ].…”

Use of erlotinib throughout pregnancy: A case-report of a patient with metastatic lung adenocarcinoma

“…Most patients had a bad postpartum progression, only 9 achieved survivals larger than 1 year and 26% had documentation of metastases to the products of conception. Eight patients were treated with systemic therapy during pregnancy with normal fetal development and without evidence of metastases to the new born or placenta; one patient was treated with erlotinib and seven patients received chemotherapy, regimens included cisplatin-gemcitabine, cisplatin-vinorelbine, cisplatin-docetaxel, carboplatin-paclitaxel, carboplatin-gemcitabine and cisplatinetoposide; four out of eight patients died within 10 months of childbirth [3].…”

“…To our knowledge only 44 cases of women with lung cancer during pregnancy have been published, more than 80% corresponding to stages III and IV, with a median survival of 4.5 months. Only 9 achieved survival larger than 1 year and 26% had documented metastasis to the products of conception [1,3]. There is only one report on the use of erlotinib during the first 8 weeks of gestation [4].…”

Successful pregnancy with epidermal growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitor treatment of metastatic lung adenocarcinoma presenting with respiratory failure

“…To date, 47 pregnant mothers with lung carcinoma have been reported in the literature, with 8 of them received systemic chemotherapy during pregnancy [1][2][3][4][5].…”