Leukemia therapy with imatinib during pregnancy may cause infant abnormalities

While doctors already face many challenges in treating patients with cancer, treating pregnant women with the disease, in particular, can be quite difficult as studies suggest that certain therapies can harm developing fetuses. According to the results of a study prepublished today online in Blood, the official journal of the American Society of Hematology, expectant women treated with imatinib, a commonly used therapy for chronic myeloid leukemia (CML), may be at moderate risk of developing fetal abnormalities.