Abstract
Melanoma is currently the fifth most common cancer in women (and men) in the United States and compared to most solid tumors melanoma disproportionately affects adolescents and adults in their reproductive years (Lens and Bataille, Cancer Causes Control 19:437–442, 2008; Siegel et al., CA Cancer J Clin 69:7–34, 2019). Accordingly, questions about the impact of hormonal changes such as puberty, pregnancy, lactation, contraceptive use, and postmenopausal hormone replacement frequently arise in the initial management and subsequent follow-up of female melanoma patients. Looming large when discussing melanoma in the woman who is or might become pregnant is the terrible specter of transplacental spread of maternal melanoma to the fetus. Although the actual transmission of cancer from a mother to her child is exceedingly rare, it is well described and more commonly seen in melanoma than any other solid tumor.
In this chapter, we examine various questions about hormones, pregnancy, and melanoma; review the physiology of melanoma and sex hormones; and provide guidance for management of patients who are pregnant at diagnosis, become pregnant after diagnosis, or are contemplating using exogenous hormones for fertility, contraception, or postmenopausal replacement.
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Gangi, A., Saw, R., Sondak, V.K. (2019). Pregnancy and the Use of Hormones in Melanoma Patients. In: Balch, C., et al. Cutaneous Melanoma. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-46029-1_17-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-46029-1_17-1
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