Milk supply related to childhood leukaemia treatment.

Abstract

This literature review and case study answers the question: 'Do the late effects of childhood cranial radiation therapy include impacts on breastfeeding?' PubMed was searched for papers using the terms lactation and cranial radiotherapy or childhood cranial radiotherapy. The case study was written from one author's experience of helping a mother with a history of childhood cranial radiation therapy. The few available studies report a high rate of lactation failure in women who were treated with cranial radiation therapy for childhood cancer, but the exceptions indicate that lactation failure is not inevitable in this group of mothers. Breastfeeding may ameliorate some of the adverse effects of cranial radiation therapy. Health professionals caring for mothers with a history of cranial radiation therapy must balance encouraging women to breastfeed with preparing them for the possibility that they may be unable to do so.