Melanoma and pregnancy

The only consistent factor influencing prognosis of primary melanoma in pregnancy has been the stage of disease at diagnosis, not the pregnancy. However, several studies suggest that pregnant women may have melanoma diagnosed at a later stage of disease. Thus, suspicious changes in nevi during pregnancy warrant prompt biopsy-not observation or deferral to the postpartum period. No hormonal factors in pregnancy that clearly influence melanoma development have been identified; there is no increased risk of recurrent disease with subsequent pregnancy. Thus, the decision for further childbearing should be a prognostic and personal one. Placental and/or fetal metastasis are limited to patients with hematogenous dissemination. Except possibly for this reason in women with distant metastases, there are no medical data to justify therapeutic abortion. Recommendations to the pregnant woman or the woman of reproductive age should not differ from that of other patients with melanoma.