UAE: 'Medical miracle' as woman with stage 4 cancer delivers healthy child, cured of disease

The patient was advised to consider terminating the pregnancy due to the risk of foetal malformations and potential adverse outcomes for both her and the foetus

Sahim Salim

Published: Mon 23 Oct 2023, 3:46 PM

Last updated: Mon 23 Oct 2023, 10:29 PM

An Emirati woman suffering from stage four breast cancer delivered a healthy child in what is considered to be the world’s first case. In addition to her pregnancy and delivery, the woman underwent treatment for the cancer in the UAE and is now free of the disease.

Professor Humaid Al Shamsi, president of the Emirates Oncology Society, said the first-of-its-kind case is considered a “medical and scientific miracle”. Details of the case were revealed as the world marks breast cancer awareness month in October.

Professor Humaid, also director of Medical Oncology at Burjeel Medical Holdings and consultant at Burjeel Medical City, Abu Dhabi, presented the case at an oncology conference in Spain. “We pray to God for the health of the patient and her child. We thank our wise leadership who supported us in providing the best methods of treating cancer in the country,” he wrote on Twitter.

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The case — which was published recently in the peer-reviewed general medical journal Cureus — saw multiple medical teams treat the patient: Oncology, maternal-foetal and a psychiatric and psychological.

As per details published in the journal, the then 34-year-old woman was diagnosed with stage three breast cancer in September 2015.

Professor Humaid Al Shamsi (second from right)

Pregnancy

Throughout her treatment, she maintained an intrauterine device (IUD). She chose to remove the IUD to become pregnant, “a decision made without consulting her oncology medical team”.

In December 2022, a home-based test came back positive for pregnancy. Due to treatment complications, she was advised to consider terminating the pregnancy. However, she refused. She was “aware that we would not be able to give any treatment for the remainder of the seven to eight months of pregnancy and that this might impact her prognosis at this stage of her disease”, her medical team wrote in Cureus.

“She was also fully aware of the risks of foetal malformations and the possible poor outcome that was likely to impact her and the foetus. The patient was also referred to a clinical psychologist for a full assessment, but the patient declined.”

The patient wanted to have the child despite the risk of the progression of her breast cancer as pregnancy meant she would be off treatment for an extended period.

Delivery

Her medical team discontinued all treatment and monitored her closely until delivery. In August 2023, at 38 weeks of gestation, she delivered a healthy male child. The patient did not encounter any complications during the pregnancy or delivery.

In September, the woman was advised to resume her therapy, but she chose to wait for three months before considering further action, as she wanted to breastfeed her child.

Breast cancer is the most prevalent form of cancer worldwide, including in the UAE, according to the report in the journal. Estimates suggest that one in 1,000 pregnant women may develop breast cancer. Pregnancy during stage four cancer is a “rare occurrence”.

Despite the positive outcome for mother and child, the medical team does not recommend pregnancy and delivery among stage four cancer patients. It suggested the use of effective contraception during anticancer therapy to “avoid such a scenario”.

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