Melanoma and Maternity

The effect of gestation on cancer has been hotly debated for decades, and the issue, as it relates to melanoma, remains a tremendous concern for dermatologists. Investigators performed a retrospective, population-based cohort study based on linked data from the Norwegian cancer and birth registries. The researchers analyzed cause-specific survival when cancer was diagnosed during pregnancy or the lactation period (~6 months postpartum) and in women with postcancer pregnancies.

Of 42,511 eligible women of childbearing age with a cancer diagnosis, 41,464 were not pregnant, 516 were pregnant, and 531 were in the lactating/postpartum period. Despite breast cancer being the most frequent diagnosis in this age group, malignant melanoma was the mos…