'Safe To Treat Pregnant Cancer Patients'

Women can be safely treated for cancer while they are still pregnant, according to new research.

Doctors found that children exposed to chemotherapy drugs while in the womb develop and grow normally.

The research was welcomed by mother Caroline Swain whose son Luke took part in the study. She had breast cancer while pregnant.

She told Sky News: "I think the research is fantastic. It's wonderful for families in this predicament. It will be very reassuring for them."

In around one in 1,000 pregnancies, the woman will be diagnosed with cancer, and the incidence is increasing by around 2.5% a year.

But regular monitoring of 70 children whose mothers were treated for breast cancer while they were in the womb showed they suffered no long-term harm.

Belgian researchers say in the medical journal Lancet Oncology: "Children who were pre-natally exposed to chemotherapy do as well as other children."

Once, women would have been faced with the decision between fighting the cancer or saving their baby.

Ms Swain was about to have surgery for breast cancer when she discovered she was five weeks pregnant.

But, by delaying chemotherapy until her second trimester, doctors decided she could have her cancer treated without harm to her baby.

"There's enough horrible things to be worrying about with the diagnosis of cancer," she said.

"To then be faced with that dilemma, 'Can I keep my baby?' is awful. At least this study will take that horrible decision away."

Cancer specialist at University College Hospital in London Dr Alison Jones agreed.

"It's important not to soft-peddle on the treatment just because a woman is pregnant," she said.

"Provided we monitor the woman and support her - and these women need a lot of support - then we can get her through the pregnancy so she has a baby."