HHS HealthBeat (November 10, 2009)

After cancer, babies

From the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, I’m Ira Dreyfuss with HHS HealthBeat.

Childhood cancer survivors increasingly are living to ages when they want to have children themselves. The question is whether their treatment – or the cancer itself – could affect the babies or them.

At Seattle’s Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Eric Chow and Beth Mueller looked for answers by comparing childhood cancer survivors with people who had not had cancer:

[Beth Mueller speaks] "I think our results are reassuring. Among populations of survivors who were able to get pregnant or father children, their infants don’t appear to have an increased risk of malformations or infant death."

But Mueller says there were some increased risks, such as for preterm births and low birth weight, so it’s wise to see a doctor.

The study in Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine was supported by the National Institutes of Health.

Learn more at hhs.gov.

HHS HealthBeat is a production of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. I’m Ira Dreyfuss.

Last revised: May 7, 2011