Should pregnancy testing during chemotherapy be standardized?

e18314 Background: The incidence of cancer diagnosed during pregnancy is 0.1-0.2%. The incidence of women who become pregnant while on chemotherapy is less clear. As the initiative to improve awareness about the risks of infertility in premenopausal women receiving chemotherapy improves, it is also important to reinforce the risk of pregnancy during chemotherapy. Treating patients with chemotherapy, especially during the first trimester, is an absolute contraindication and a serious adverse event. Pregnancy testing prior to the initiation of chemotherapy is recommended by the NCCN and ASCO. However, recommendations on how to monitor for pregnancy after an initial screen are inconsistent and lack standardization. Methods: We surveyed five breast medical oncologists and six infusion nurses at a busy urban breast center to determine their baseline practices for pregnancy counseling and testing. We then initiated a quality improvement project over a six month period to routinely screen premenopausal patients ( < 55 years) diagnosed with breast cancer for pregnancy prior to each cycle of chemotherapy. Results: Of physicians and nurses surveyed, 40% and 33% respectively have diagnosed a pregnancy during chemotherapy. All physicians surveyed check a pregnancy test prior to the initiation of chemotherapy, 60% check urine and 40% check serum. Counseling patients on the risk of pregnancy varies with 80% of physicians counseling patients prior to initiation of chemotherapy. Half of the infusion nurses ask patients if they are concerned they may be pregnant intermittently during chemotherapy and 50% do not ask again after the initial screen. During routine screening over a 6 month period no pregnancies were detected. One patient missed a baseline screening prior to initiating chemotherapy. Two patients had a borderline result ( < 1%) on urine pregnancy testing but reflex serum testing was negative. Compliance for testing by nurses was 93%. Conclusions: Results of the survey demonstrate that pregnancy counseling and screening practices vary even within the same institution. We must improve and standardize educating patients and healthcare providers on the risks of pregnancy during chemotherapy in order to prevent unwanted pregnancies, and identify pregnancies in a timely manner. Given the very small risk of pregnancy, we would not recommend routine screening prior to each cycle of chemotherapy, but we do recommend asking all premenopausal patients if there is a chance they may be pregnant prior to each treatment and test based on the individual risk.