# Two part question about infantile cancer **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 9, 2006, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-part-question-about-infantile-cancer/379743 "2006-11-09T18:35:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![davenportavenger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5f8ce5/32.png) [@davenportavenger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davenportavenger)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2006, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-part-question-about-infantile-cancer/379743/1 "2006-11-09T18:35:29Z")
I’ve been wondering about some stuff relating to cancer, especially since I work in a cancer research institute but don’t want to just fire off questions willy nilly when they don’t relate to my work. My questions right now are: 1. Can a person be born with cancer? What would be the survival rates for this? 2. If a fetus develops cancer, can it metastatize to the mother (through the umbilical cord or amniotic fluid)? Likewise, if the mother has cancer, can it spread to the fetus? Thanks! Sorry if these questions are a little depressing. ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2006, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-part-question-about-infantile-cancer/379743/2 "2006-11-09T19:08:11Z")
[QUOTE=davenportavenger] I’ve been wondering about some stuff relating to cancer, especially since I work in a cancer research institute but don’t want to just fire off questions willy nilly when they don’t relate to my work. My questions right now are: 1. Can a person be born with cancer? What would be the survival rates for this? 2. If a fetus develops cancer, can it metastatize to the mother (through the umbilical cord or amniotic fluid)? Likewise, if the mother has cancer, can it spread to the fetus? Thanks! Sorry if these questions are a little depressing. [/QUOTE] 1. Apparently so. > [@](#): > > The age of peak cancer incidence among children occurred during the first year of life. > > Malignancies of infancy represented 10% of all cancer that was diagnosed among children younger than 15 years of age. The average annual incidence rate of all infant cancer combined was 233 per million infants, which was 12% higher than the age (2 years) with the next highest incidence. The article goes on to say that 13% of the cancers were diagnosed within a month of birth. And, while survival rates for pediatric cancers have improved greatly, the prognosis for these unfortunate babies is not as good. > **[Cancer Incidence and Survival Among Children and Adolescents - Pediatric...](https://seer.cancer.gov/archive/publications/childhood/)** > > NCI monograph on statistical trends and risk factors associated with childhood cancers -- infants, adolescents ages 15 to 19 years, and mortality rates, 1975-1995. 1. Don’t know about baby to mom disease transmission. Breast cancer sometimes appears during pregnancy. This can be a grim situation, since pregnant women cannot receive most cancer therapy. But the babies do not “catch” cancer from their mothers. (I’m not a medical professional, but know how to look up medical stuff. Maybe some experts can expand on this.) ---
**Author:** ![brossa](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brossa/32/3040_2.png) [@brossa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brossa)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2006, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-part-question-about-infantile-cancer/379743/3 "2006-11-09T22:30:25Z")
Maternal tumors metastasizing to the fetus are rare, but [do occur](http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3725/is_199705/ai_n8780032). [Choriocarcinoma](http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/001496.htm) could be said to be the opposite case, although this isn’t exactly a tumor of the fetus. ---
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2006, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-part-question-about-infantile-cancer/379743/4 "2006-11-09T23:25:54Z")
**Bridget Burke** , the malignancies described in your link are infant, not fetal cancers. They are not present at birth, but develop soon after. **brossa** , I realize you do understand that [hydatidiform moles](http://www.emedicine.com/med/topic1047.htm) are not, and never really were fetuses. I just wanted to clarify that for others. They are reproductive cancers that develop from the placental tissue. Even though an egg has been fertilized, no fetus develops. One type may have odd tissue, like hair or teeth, but nothing resembling a fetus. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2006, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-part-question-about-infantile-cancer/379743/5 "2006-11-10T03:54:06Z")
I once saw a documentary about a fetus who was discovered to have a tumor growing in utero. It might have been a metastasized maternal tumor, come to think of it… Anyway, it was notable because they saved the baby’s life by operating on it. They cut open the mom, exposed the fetus, cut out the tumor, and sewed everyone back up. It’s not often a baby is born with a big ol’ scar. Additionally, when I researched a presentation on a certain cancer-causing translocation a few years ago, I ran across a paper where they took a bunch of kids with this leukemia and went back and tested the heel stick blood spots that were taken when they were born. They found that several kids were born with the translocation, which must have been acquired during pregnancy. Having the translocation isn’t the same as having cancer, but it’s a big step along the way.