Pregnancy and cervical cancer can be categorized under two categories for a better understanding. Cancer occurs in approximately one out of every 1,000 pregnancies. However, pregnancy itself does not cause cancer, and pregnant women are not more likely to get cancer than other women.
- Being pregnant when you are diagnosed.
- Pregnancy after treatment for cervical cancer.
If your cancer is a very early cancer, such as stage IA, then most doctors believe that it is safe to continue the pregnancy to term. Several weeks after delivery, a hysterectomy or a cone biopsy is recommended. If the cancer is stage IB, then you and your doctor must decide whether to continue the pregnancy.
There are several conditions which need to be met before a woman considers pregnancy. If all of these conditions are not met, then the risk is too great that the cancer could reoccur :
- The cancer cells must be confined to only the cervix.
- The cancer was less than 3 mm deep into the tissues of the cervix.
- The affected area was no larger than 10 mm across at any point.
- There is no sign of cancer in the blood vessels, lymphatic vessels or
lymph gland.
If the patient was treated with radiation therapy then most likely the patient is now infertile and pregnancy is not an option. Surgery, of course, removes the uterus which prevents pregnancies from forming.
However, there is a way in which a woman can get pregnant.
A woman who opted for a radical trachelectomy still has part of her cervix intact. It removes cancer cells but leaves enough of the cervix to support a pregnancy. The doctor will stitch around the opening to hold it closed. This procedure significantly increases the risk of miscarriages and premature births because the cervix often is unable to support the weight from the pregnancy. This procedure requires the baby to be born by Caesarean section.
