Woman Diagnosed With Blood Cancer During Pregnancy Delivers Healthy Baby Girl At Delhi Hospital

Doctors at a Delhi hospital have successfully delivered a healthy baby girl to a 32-year-old woman, who was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia, a fast-growing blood cancer, in the fifth month of her pregnancy, officials said on Saturday.

According to the BLK-MAX Super Speciality Hospital, the woman from Madhya Pradesh was undergoing treatment for cancer, with doctors simultaneously monitoring her pregnancy to ensure the safety of both the mother and child.

Treating cancer during pregnancy is extremely rare and medically challenging, as chemotherapy and other treatment procedures can pose risks to the unborn child, doctors at the hospital said.

A multidisciplinary team prepared a treatment plan to control the disease while prolonging the pregnancy as safely as possible, they said.

“Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia during pregnancy is an extremely rare and high-risk condition that requires urgent intervention. The challenge lies in controlling an aggressive cancer while carefully balancing fetal safety,” Dr Dharma Choudhary, Chairman, Haemato Oncology and Bone Marrow Transplant, said.

According to the doctors, chemotherapy and continuous fetal monitoring helped stabilise the woman's condition and extend the pregnancy.

At 32 weeks and four days of pregnancy, doctors detected restricted growth and altered blood flow in the baby, prompting an emergency caesarean section on May 7, the hospital said.

The baby weighed 1.28 kg, and both the mother and child were stable, it said.

The newborn is receiving specialised neonatal care while the mother is preparing for further treatment for leukaemia, the doctors said. 

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