Prenatal Testing Detects Cancer in Mom

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Pregnant women and soon-to-be moms know that getting prenatal tests can help them detect fetal distress, and other abnormal developments, and should there be any problems found, early prevention can be administered. But based on a study, prenatal tests can now help determine if a pregnant woman is suffering from cancer.

Yahoo! News writes that the study has involved using blood tests from more than 100,000 women which have been processed in a Californian laboratory, wherein 3 percent suggested fetal chromosome abnormalities. In some cases, 10 babies turned out healthy but their mothers have been diagnosed with colon cancer, lymphoma or leukemia.

According Technology Review, the Journal of American Medical Association has published a study that states non-invasive prenatal tests have been able to discover several cancer cases even before the mothers could have gotten themselves tested. The authors of the study has verified it among eight mothers who have previously undergone prenatal tests and were diagnosed with cancer to check if there had been any signs of the cancer in the prenatal data.

Results show that three out of the eight women have their prenatal tests led to medical workup while the other five immediately led to diagnoses.

The principle behind the study is that "liquid biopsy" can detect cancer even at its earliest stage, which means even without symptoms.

Furthermore, CBS News reports that author Dr. Diana Bianchi has explained that cancer can shed DNA into the mother’s blood, which causes an imbalance so it can detected in the prenatal tests.

Prenatal testing is widely used for detection of chromosome disorders like Down Syndrome, and with the results of this study, the future of early cancer detection may be improved.

Marin Mejia, a mother who had prenatal test when she was pregnant with her son Owen, has shown abnormal blood test results. It has caused a panic in Mejia, thinking it was his son who had a problem. As it turns out, it was her anal cancer that has triggered the abnormal results.

She then has delivered Owen at 32 weeks as the doctors wish to treat her cancer immediately. Due to the early detection, Mejia has been able to undergo chemotherapy and radiation therapy and is now in the process of observation. Currently, more tests have shown that Mejia’s cancerous nodules are shrinking and hopefully, later scans will show better results.