Wow! Congratulations on your pregnancy!!! That is such wonderful news for you.
You are smart to wonder what about your past medical conditions you need to keep in the forefront as you carry this pregnancy.
Here is a page on MRI during pregnancy from the University of California at San Francisco's Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging:
http://www.radiology.ucsf.edu/patients/gad_preg
I gave you the page first because it footnotes several medical studies, and you might want to print it out and ask your doctor if a MRI is needed during your pregnancy. In general, it says that while most studies of MRI during pregnancy show no ill effects, there are two concerns for the fetus. They are (1) the possibility teratogenic effects, which are defined as negative effects on the fetal development, and (2) the possibility of hearing damage because the MRI is so loud. In general, they recommend avoiding MRI during pregnancy, particularly during the first trimester, but they say it is still preferable to any studies using ionizing radiation.
And here is what radiology.org says:
"If you are pregnant or suspect you are pregnant, you should inform the MRI technologist and/or radiologist during the screening procedure before the MRI examination. In general, there is no known risk of using MRI in pregnant patients. However, MRI is reserved for use in pregnant patients only to address very important problems or suspected abnormalities. In any case, MRI is safer for the fetus than imaging with x-rays or CT."
Does that help with that part of the question?
Here's what cancer.net, the website of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, says about pregnancy after cancer:
"As more young people are surviving cancer, more women are considering whether they should have a baby after having cancer. In general, pregnancy after cancer is considered safe for both the mother and the baby, and pregnancy does not appear to increase the chances of cancer recurring (coming back). However, since some cancers do recur, women are usually advised to wait a number of years after completing cancer treatment until the risk of recurrence has decreased. The amount of time you will be advised to wait before becoming pregnant depends on the type and stage of cancer and course of treatment."
This is a 2009 study of just 12 pregnancies in 11 adult women published in the Annals of Neurology who had grade II gliomas before they were pregnant (meaning, as I interpret it, that their doctors were treating the gliomas as the pregnancy progressed). In those cases, they did feel that pregnancy increased tumor growth. But as you have had clear scans for two years, this should be of only minimal concern to you. And it was quite a small study (To get the full text you need to go here and then click on either PDF or HTML and then purchase it):
There are so many different kinds of brain tumors that I understand why your research was difficult. But nowhere in the pages I read did I find research that stated that the hormones of pregnancy could encourage or hasten a recurrence. Have you asked your former oncologist about this?
Comment Reply
JC3408,
Wow! Congratulations on your pregnancy!!! That is such wonderful news for you.
You are smart to wonder what about your past medical conditions you need to keep in the forefront as you carry this pregnancy.
Here is a page on MRI during pregnancy from the University of California at San Francisco's Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging:
http://www.radiology.ucsf.edu/patients/gad_preg
I gave you the page first because it footnotes several medical studies, and you might want to print it out and ask your doctor if a MRI is needed during your pregnancy. In general, it says that while most studies of MRI during pregnancy show no ill effects, there are two concerns for the fetus. They are (1) the possibility teratogenic effects, which are defined as negative effects on the fetal development, and (2) the possibility of hearing damage because the MRI is so loud. In general, they recommend avoiding MRI during pregnancy, particularly during the first trimester, but they say it is still preferable to any studies using ionizing radiation.
And here is what radiology.org says:
"If you are pregnant or suspect you are pregnant, you should inform the MRI technologist and/or radiologist during the screening procedure before the MRI examination. In general, there is no known risk of using MRI in pregnant patients. However, MRI is reserved for use in pregnant patients only to address very important problems or suspected abnormalities. In any case, MRI is safer for the fetus than imaging with x-rays or CT."
Does that help with that part of the question?
Here's what cancer.net, the website of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, says about pregnancy after cancer:
"As more young people are surviving cancer, more women are considering whether they should have a baby after having cancer. In general, pregnancy after cancer is considered safe for both the mother and the baby, and pregnancy does not appear to increase the chances of cancer recurring (coming back). However, since some cancers do recur, women are usually advised to wait a number of years after completing cancer treatment until the risk of recurrence has decreased. The amount of time you will be advised to wait before becoming pregnant depends on the type and stage of cancer and course of treatment."
Here's that page:
http://www.cancer.net/patient/Coping/Emotional+and+Physical+Matters/Sexual+and+Reproductive+Health/Pregnancy+and+Cancer
This is a 2009 study of just 12 pregnancies in 11 adult women published in the Annals of Neurology who had grade II gliomas before they were pregnant (meaning, as I interpret it, that their doctors were treating the gliomas as the pregnancy progressed). In those cases, they did feel that pregnancy increased tumor growth. But as you have had clear scans for two years, this should be of only minimal concern to you. And it was quite a small study (To get the full text you need to go here and then click on either PDF or HTML and then purchase it):
http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/122638139/abstract?CRETRY=1&SRETRY=0
There are so many different kinds of brain tumors that I understand why your research was difficult. But nowhere in the pages I read did I find research that stated that the hormones of pregnancy could encourage or hasten a recurrence. Have you asked your former oncologist about this?
May 4, 2010 - 8:38amThis Comment
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