Having cancer tests while pregnant

If your GP or pregnancy doctor thinks there may be a link between your symptoms and cancer, they will refer you to a hospital specialist for tests. Making sure you are well is the most important thing for having a healthy baby. So it is important to find the cause of your symptoms.

You may worry that tests could put the baby’s health at risk. Tests to diagnose cancer can usually be done without harming the baby. Your doctors will choose tests that do not risk exposing the baby to harmful amounts of radiation. They will try to avoid:

• bone scans
• PET (positron emission tomography) scan
• CT (computerised tomography) scans.

If they think you need a test they would usually avoid, they will talk to you about it. Your doctor will explain how they can reduce any possible risk to the baby.

If you have had tests and later find you are pregnant, talk to your doctor. With most tests there is no risk to the baby, or if there is it is a very small risk.

You can have x-rays if they do not directly expose the baby to the rays. For example, you could have x-rays of your head, chest and arms and legs. The person taking the x-ray (radiographer) places a lead shield over your tummy to protect the baby. Doctors sometimes call this pelvic shielding.

An MRI scan uses magnetism to build up a detailed picture of your body. It does not use x-rays. There is no evidence that MRI scans are a risk to the baby. But doctors will try to avoid them in the first 3 months (first trimester) of pregnancy.

You are given a contrast injection (gadolinium) with an MRI scan to give a better picture of the scan area. This may pass through the placenta and be harmful to the baby during the first trimester.

This test uses a microscope called a colposcope to look closely at your cervix. They may take a small sample of cells (a biopsy) from the cervix to test for cancer cells.

You may have this if a cervical screening test taken before pregnancy showed abnormal cells on the cervix. Some women have it to check vaginal bleeding during pregnancy when other possible causes have been ruled out.

The cervix is at the entrance to the womb so you only have a biopsy if it is necessary. If you are further along in your pregnancy, your specialist may recommend leaving the biopsy until after the baby is born.

There is more risk of bleeding during this type of biopsy in pregnancy. Your doctor may do the biopsy in an operating theatre. They may recommend you have it done under a general anaesthetic.