Acute leukaemia during pregnancy

The association of leukaemia with pregnancy is very uncommon and not expected to occur in more than one in 75 000 pregnancies. Three pregnant patients with acute leukaemia were seen in our centre over a 5-year period. All three were seen during the second half of their pregnancy. Two patients had acute myelogenous and one had acute lymphoblastic leukaemia. Two patients received chemotherapy prior to delivery of the fetus while the third patient underwent Caesarean section prior to initiation of chemotherapy. During the course of hospitalization, there were two maternal deaths and one fetal death. No fetal malformations or anomalies were detected. The worldwide recently published experience on this subject has been reviewed and summarized