Pregnancy outcome in women exposed to leflunomide before or during pregnancy.

OBJECTIVE: Findings from animal studies have suggested that leflunomide may be a human teratogen. In the only human cohort study published to date, an increase in adverse outcomes in pregnancies after exposure to leflunomide was not detected. The aim of the present analysis was to expand on the previously published data with a description of birth outcomes among women who did not meet the previous cohort study criteria but who were exposed to leflunomide either during pregnancy or prior to conception. METHODS: Data on pregnancy exposures and outcomes were collected from 45 pregnant women who had contacted counseling services of the Organization of Teratology Information Specialists in the US or Canada between 1999 and 2009. Sixteen women were exposed to leflunomide during the first trimester of pregnancy and 29 women were exposed preconception. RESULTS: All 16 of the pregnancies with leflunomide exposure during pregnancy and 27 (93%) of the pregnancies with exposure prior to conception resulted in liveborn infants. There were 2 infants with major malformations from mothers who were exposed during pregnancy, and no malformations reported in the preconception group. There was a potential known alternative etiology for at least some of the defects observed. CONCLUSION: These data provide additional reassurance to women who inadvertently become pregnant while taking leflunomide and who undergo the washout procedure, as well as women who discontinue the medication prior to conception but have no prepregnancy documentation of drug clearance. However, until more conclusive data become available, women receiving leflunomide should be advised to use contraceptive methods and avoid pregnancy.

A newborn with Pierre Robin sequence after preconceptional mitoxantrone exposure of a female with multiple sclerosis.

Multiple sclerosis is a common disease of young adults in which accidental and unplanned pregnancies under disease modifying or immunosuppressive therapies may occur. The experience with mitoxantrone (MIX) especially in the first trimenon is very limited, until now only one case of a pregnant woman with MS who was exposed to MIX in early pregnancy and delivered a growth restricted but healthy child was published. We report a case of a secondary progressive MS patient who was exposed periconceptionally to MIX and delivered a child with Pierre Robin Sequence (PRS), a syndrome with the main features of glossoptosis, micrognathia, and palate clefts. PRS is a very rare defect and therefore a causal relation with MIX seems possible.

Pierre Robin sequence associated with first trimester fetal tamoxifen exposure.

Tamoxifen is a nonsteroidal antiestrogen used as the current adjuvant endocrine treatment of choice for premenopausal women treated for breast cancer and its potential for causing fetal harm during pregnancy remains inconclusive. While the evidence of tamoxifen's effects on humans in utero is minimal, animal studies have shown evidence of teratogenicity, hence the FDA's class D categorization of the drug. In 1994 Cullins et al. published a case report entitled "Goldenhar's Syndrome Associated with Tamoxifen Given to the Mother During Gestation." At the time of publication, the authors noted that the manufacturer of tamoxifen knew of two cases associated with tamoxifen administration which resulted in congenital craniofacial defects. Cullins' case of Goldenhar syndrome is also a craniofacial disorder and thus represented the third such case. We report on the fourth case of a tamoxifen-associated craniofacial anomaly. The mother became pregnant while undergoing tamoxifen therapy for breast cancer. A child with severe micrognathia and cleft palate was born. It is noteworthy that the two patterns of craniofacial malformations in tamoxifen exposed infants--Goldenhar syndrome in Cullins' et al. case and Pierre Robin sequence reported here--have also both been observed in isotretinoin exposed infants. While a larger spectrum of anomalies is characteristic of retinoic acid embryopathy, the specific craniofacial anomalies include facial asymmetry, microtia, micrognatha and U-shaped cleft of the secondary palate, that is, malformations seen in the two tamoxifen exposed infants. Therefore, it is conceivable that these two agents could produce comparable embryotoxic effects if they function in a like way during embryogenesis. While the majority of tamoxifen exposed infants are normal, the ascertainment of teratogenic effects from tamoxifen will best be determined by data from teratogen registries.