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Cancer treatment may be hazardous for pregnant women, but that hazard is principally related to the first trimester of pregnancy. It is not uncommon for patients in their second and third trimesters of pregnancy to safely receive chemotherapy and for the cancer and then go on and have a perfectly safe pregnancy.

Cancer treatment does not have to impair fertility. Indeed, for most women and men who receive chemotherapy there is no impact on fertility, especially if you are younger.

Chemotherapy is a scary word. It is the use of anti-cancer (cytotoxic) drugs to destroy cancer cells and is a general term for many different kinds of treatment and drugs. There are more than 50 different chemotherapy drugs. In principle, it means not treating by surgery and radiotherapy, but by giving drugs that affect the entire body equally. The drugs go into the bloodstream and travel throughout the body to treat the cancer cells wherever they are. It can be given either as a tablet, or as an injection or infusion directly into a vein. Chemotherapy can cause side effects. The side effects will depend on which drug (or combination of drugs) is used. There are now very good ways of preventing or reducing the side effects of chemotherapy. 

Cancer is the general name for a group of diseases in which cells in a part of the body begin to grow out of control. All cancers start because abnormal cells grow out of control. If the immune system does not destroy these cells, they will continue to grow and invade adjacent tissues. Cancer usually kills because abnormal cells impair the function of the organ or tissue they are growing on.

Cancer can cause death by spreading from the primary site to other parts of the body. Usually, this is well tolerated and people can live well for many years without problems. Many treatments can control cancer for a long time even if they can not cure it. Bear in mind that some cancers have survival rates of more than 90 percent and overall, more than 50 percent of people diagnosed with cancer live for more than five years. However, if a cancer continues to grow it can overwhelm the body’s essential functions such as the lungs, liver and digestive system. If this happens the treatment may no longer control the cancer and this might make it difficult to survive such an experience.