Here’s a breakdown of the key information from the text, focusing on the individuals mentioned and the main points of the ASCO guideline:
Key Individuals:
* Alison W.Loren, MD, MSCE, MS, FACP, FASCO: co-chair of the ASCO guideline. She emphasizes the high stakes and emotional impact of cancer during pregnancy, and the need for clear best practices for clinicians. She also highlights the importance of understanding therapy toxicities and the need for more modeling studies.
* Ann H. Partridge, MD, MPH, FASCO: Co-chair of the ASCO guideline. She stresses the importance of helping providers and patients understand what is safe and known regarding cancer treatment during pregnancy, acknowledging the limitations of the available literature.
Main Points of the ASCO Guideline:
* Increasing Incidence: Cancer during pregnancy is rare but becoming more frequent due to trends of later-age pregnancies and earlier cancer onset.
* Purpose: The guideline aims to provide recommendations for managing cancer during pregnancy, addressing diagnostic testing, therapeutic interventions, delivery planning, and ethical/legal considerations.
* Complexities: The co-occurrence of cancer and pregnancy is a uniquely challenging situation for both patients and healthcare teams.
* Evolving Thinking: There’s been an evolution in understanding the optimal timing of delivery to balance outcomes for both mother and fetus.
* ethical Considerations: The guideline addresses ethical and legal issues,including support for patients making decisions about continuing or ending a pregnancy (especially relevant given recent restrictions on abortion access).
* Future Research: There’s a need for more research, including modeling studies of therapy toxicities and continued collection of registry data to evaluate management approaches.
* Publication: The guideline was published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology in December 2025.
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