Then
Now
Board Certification(s): Obstetrics and Gynecology, Maternal and Fetal Medicine
Office Location(s): Burlington, Camden, Pomona, Princeton, Sewell, Voorhees
Medical Group: Cooper University Physician
Approximately 1:1000 pregnancies are complicated by cancer. With women delaying childbearing to older ages, the diagnosis of cancer during pregnancy is increasing.
Because of the lack of data on pregnancy and cancer treatment outcomes for mother and child, women decline cancer treatment during pregnancy, termination of pregnancy is recommended by their doctors, or women are encouraged to deliver their newborns prematurely in order to begin cancer treatment postpartum.
A multi-center registry to record all cases of cancer diagnosed during pregnancy, included cases treated with chemotherapy during pregnancy with their respective outcomes is vital. Only by this means may we accrue the data we need to offer optimal treatment to our patients.
This is the purpose of the Cancer and Pregnancy Registry maintained at Cooper Medical School at Rowan University. Accumulating data on how women are diagnosed and treated internationally is analyzed to note trends in diagnostic delays in pregnancy to recommend improvements, and to collect long term outcome data for the mother and neonate to publish treatment choices which are safest for the mother and child.
Pregnant women calling the Registry after a diagnosis of cancer during pregnancy, are reassured to learn they are not the only pregnant woman to have experienced this diagnosis, and that long term outcome is being collected on neonates.
This provides valuable guidance, information and support for patients and oncologists with which to make informed decisions about treating cancer during pregnancy.