Good News for Lupus Pregnancies Save

The Washington Post recently interviewed Dr. Eliza Chakavarty of the OMRF about the evolution in attitudes and outcomes of lupus women who wish to get pregnant.

Better understanding of the interplay between lupus activity and pregnancy outcomes, along with better medication, allows the discussion between hopeful patients and planful rheumatologists to be constructive ones. 

Dr. Chakavarty said, “When somebody comes to me now and says, ‘I’m thinking about having a baby,’ I let her know that in the majority of cases, women will have safe and healthy pregnancies. But we need to do a little bit of work before they conceive to maximize the chances of a good outcome.”

The usual script includes frank discussion, planning, changing from teratogenic to safer therapies - while maintaining optimum disease control.

Once the pregnancy outcome is successful she focuses on the mother and the potential risk of disease flare or other factors that may affect maternal outcomes (breast-feeding, being off drugs, starting new drugs, etc.).