If a premature baby has cancer and needs chemotherapy...?

[-Liz]

Say the baby was born a few months early, and weighs around 2lbs. At birth, a cancer tumor is found and can't be completely resected with surgery, so other treatment is needed.

Does the baby have to wait for chemo until (s)he weighs a certain amount, is breathing on it's own, or reaches any other certain milestones ? Or can the baby get it as soon as the cancer is found?

Hypothetical, I'm just curious

[jayne beal]

i would say it would be weighed upon whether the cancer is too aggressive to be allowed to continue unabated. if it's not then it would be best to wait.

[ladypam]

With premature babies, the decision is quite complicated. Unless the tumor is life threatening, such as obstructs breathing, normal body processes, etc, then they will probably do something about it. But it is still dependent on the condition of the baby, if the baby can take the additional stress on its body. Premature babies often have underdeveloped lungs and they need to have them fully developed first. It would probably be a different scenario if it happened to a full term baby.

There are a lot of complications associated with premature babies and the statistics of the survival of these babies are often 50/50 depending on the complications present. To have a cancer tumor found on a preemie is truly a devastating thought indeed.