Maternal and fetal outcomes of taxane chemotherapy in breast and ovarian cancer during pregnancy: Case series and review of the literature

Background: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the use of taxane chemotherapy during pregnancy and compare maternal and neonatal outcomes with those in women who did not receive taxanes during pregnancy, and review current existing data. Study design: This is a retrospective cohort study in which women were identified from the Cancer and Pregnancy Registry at Robert Wood Johnson Medical Center. A retrospective chart analysis and an independent t-test were carried out comparing patient outcomes. A literature search in Ovid, Medline and PubMed was then carried out using the terms 'breast or ovarian cancer', 'pregnancy', 'paclitaxel', 'docetaxel', 'taxanes' and 'chemotherapy'. Results: Twelve of 129 women with breast cancer were exposed to taxanes during pregnancy. Three of nine women with ovarian cancer received taxane-based treatment during pregnancy. Birth weight, gestational age at delivery, rate of growth restriction, congenital anomalies and incidence of maternal and neonatal neutropenia were not statistically different between the two groups. Conclusions: Taxane-based chemotherapy does not appear to increase the risk of fetal or maternal complications when compared with conventional chemotherapy in the small cohort of women in our Registry.