Melanoma in pregnancy
De Wit, A.C.; Merkus, J.M.
Nederlands Tijdschrift Voor Geneeskunde 142(38): 2087-2090
1998
ISSN/ISBN: 0028-2162 PMID: 9856221 Document Number: 490334
The incidence of pregnancy complicated by melanoma of the skin, calculated from data of the Netherlands Cancer Registry, is 1 per 10,000 pregnancies. The prognosis of a melanoma is not affected by prior or subsequent pregnancy. A melanoma diagnosed during pregnancy does appear to have a more unfavourable prognosis, due not to a less favourable clinical course, but to a delay in diagnosing melanoma during pregnancy and (or) a less favourable site. When a pregnancy is complicated by malignancy, in case of a melanoma there is a higher risk of placental metastasis compared with other malignancies. In nearly 50% of the cases reported in literature of placental metastasis there was foetal involvement.