Continuation of pregnancy in pregnant women with uterine cervical cancer

Objective: To make a prognosis for pregnant women with uterine cervical cancer. Subjects and Methods: Thirty-two women with cervical cancer diagnosed during pregnancy were treated at Okayama University Hospital between 1976 and 1995. Results: Squamous cell carcinoma was detected in the majority of these patients (93.7%). Approximately 80% of them were in an early stage (stage 0 or Ia). The number of patients in an early stage increased in the 10 years from 1986 to 1995 compared with the ten years from 1976 to 1985. More than half of the patients were diagnosed by a positive cervical smear without symptoms. We carried out conization in all of 16 patients who hoped to maintain gestation. Although 2 patients had preterm labor and in one patient there was fetal death at 14 weeks, 15 patients had term delivery. On pathological examination of specimens, residual neoplastic lesion was suspected in 42% of the patients in stage 0 and in all patients in stage Ia, but most of them were considered to be in an earlier stage. Pregnancy did not affect the five year survival rate of the patients with cervical cancer detected in an early stage. Conclusion: Our results suggest that pregnant women with cervical cancer in an early stage (0 and Ia) can be treated without termination of pregnancy.