Postoperative monitoring in pregnant patients undergoing surgery for advanced malignancy in last trimester: How long is enough?

Surgery for advanced breast malignancy in the last trimester of pregnancy is uncommon. We present successful management of a 32-year-old woman, 30 weeks pregnant with stage 3 breast malignancy, for surgery followed by normal labor and chemotherapy. Surgery and intraoperative period were uneventful. Patient had uterine contractions 36 h postsurgery, which were managed timely with active interventions and tocolytics. Risk of premature labor following nonobstetric surgery in pregnant patients is estimated to be 8.3%, but majority of the studies have been carried out in second trimester following appendectomy. There is insufficient data in literature regarding the estimation and duration of persistence of risk of premature labor in these patients. No guidelines are available regarding how long they need to be monitored for premature labor. There is some evidence, although little that risk of premature labor persists for 7 days postsurgery. In the absence of convincing studies and guidelines, we recommend postoperative monitoring for at least 7 days in patients undergoing major surgeries for malignancies in last trimester. Multidisciplinary approach is required to manage these patients.