A 36 Year-Old Primivida Diagnosed with Primary Lung Cancer
- Author:
Sun Hye KO
1
;
Hyeon Hui KANG
;
Sun Mie YIM
;
You Mi HWANG
;
Eun Hye JI
;
You Suk OH
;
Sang Haak LEE
Author Information
1. Department of Internal Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea. mdlee@catholic.ac.kr
- Publication Type:Case Report
- Keywords:
Lung cancer;
Pregnancy;
Chemotherapy
- MeSH:
Adenocarcinoma;
Adult;
Anoxia;
Biopsy;
Brain;
Chemoradiotherapy;
Child;
Cough;
Emergencies;
Fetal Distress;
Humans;
Lung;
Lung Neoplasms;
Mothers;
Neoplasm Metastasis;
Parturition;
Pregnancy;
Pulmonary Atelectasis;
Rare Diseases;
Smoke;
Smoking;
Thorax
- From:Korean Journal of Medicine
2012;82(1):85-89
- CountryRepublic of Korea
- Language:Korean
-
Abstract:
A 36-year-old primivida, at 29 weeks of pregnancy with no smoking history, was admitted to the hospital complaining of cough for 3 days. Chest X-rays revealed atelectasis of the right upper lobe, and a transbronchial lung biopsy confirmed primary lung adenocarcinoma. After consulting with obstetricians and neonatologists, we wanted to deliver the child and treat the mother with chemoradiotherapy. But as she was adamantly opposed to treatment until fetal lung maturation was complete, we planned to delay the birth until 34 weeks, deliver the baby by caesarian section, and then treat the mother. However, maternal hypoxia and fetal distress resulted in an emergency delivery at 30 weeks. After delivery, we treated the mother's brain metastases with radiation therapy and systemic cisplatin-pemetrexed, but she deteriorated and expired 95 days after the diagnosis. Lung cancer during pregnancy is a rare disease and raises many medical and ethical issues in deciding the best course of therapy. We describe our clinical approach and review the potentially challenging features of managing a pregnant patient with lung cancer.
