OB/GYN Clinical Alert articles from February 2005

OB/GYN Clinical Alert archives from February 2005

VBAC revisited.(Abstract & Commentary)(Vaginal birth after cesarean)
February 1, 2005... IN SOME HOSPITALS VAGINAL BIRTH AFTER CESAREAN (VBAC) HAS been eliminated as an option for patients having had previous Cesarean sections. Although the major reason stated for this position has been risk of uterine rupture, there is more to...

Effects of a low-glycemic load diet on resting energy expenditure and heart disease risk factors during weight loss.(Abstract & Commentary)
February 1, 2005... The effect of caloric restriction upon metabolism was gated by whether sugars or fats were preferentially restricted. A low-glycemic load diet (glucose restriction) yielded more favorable biochemical profiles than restricting fats. ...

Immunotherapy for consolidation treatment of ovarian cancer--is this the one?(Abstract & Commentary)
February 1, 2005... Consolidation therapy with oregovomab did not significantly improve TTR overall. A set of confirmatory phase III studies has been initiated to determine whether the SFLT population derives benefit from oregovomab treatment. ********** ...

Improving the Use of prophylactic antibiotics.(Abstract & Commentary)
February 1, 2005... Instituting a policy for prophylactic antibiotics can increase their appropriate use. ********** DILUIGI AND COLLEAGUES IN RHODE ISLAND COMpared the outcomes of 400 patients undergoing hysterectomy with 686 hysterectomy cases performed...

The WHI-Wayne state Fracas.(Special Feature)
February 1, 2005... WOMEN'S HEALTH INITIATIVE (WHI) INVESTIGATORS from Wayne State University performed an analysis using the WHI database and presented the results at the 2004 annual meeting of the American Society of Reproductive Medicine (ASRM). (1,2) An oral...

CME questions.
February 1, 2005... 4. The following statements are true regarding oral contraception and cardiovascular disease except: a. arterial cardiovascular events are essentially limited to low-dose oral contraceptive users who are older and smokers or who are...

Statins and the incidence of rhabdomyolysis.
February 1, 2005... The most commonly prescribed statins have a low incidence of rhabdomyolysis, according to the results a new study of more than 250,000 patients. Atorvastatin, pravastatin, and simvastatin were found have very low and virtually indistinguishable...

Antioxidant supplements for prevention of gastrointestinal cancers: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
February 1, 2005... CLINICIANS AND PATIENTS HAVE HOPED that antioxidants might prevent cancer. Since oxidant stress may be one of the culprits in gene mutation that leads to carcinogenesis, it was logical to entertain the therapeutic potential of antioxidant...

Imiquimod 5% cream for the treatment of actinic keratosis.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... RECENT CHANGES IN DERMATOLOGIC nomenclature classify actinic kertosis (AK) as keratinocytic intraepidermal neoplasia, or carcinoma in situ. A variety of treatments provide destruction and resolution of AK. Most of the time, biopsy is not...

Two 8-month regimens of chemotherapy for treatment of newly diagnosed pulmonary tuberculosis.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... THE EPIDEMIOLOGIC PRESENCE OF tuberculosis has grown greater to some degree because of the sustained and evolving population of HIV-infected individuals worldwide. Standard therapy (as per the World Health Organization) for newly diagnosed...

Self-measured home blood pressure in predicting ambulatory hypertension.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... AMBULATORY BLOOD PRESSURE MONitoring (ABPM) provides the best metric of overall blood pressure burden. Several factors have compromised use of ABPM as a primary metric in managing hypertension (HTN): its cost, inconvenience, relative lesser...

Thyroid status, disability and cognitive function, and survival in old age.
February 1, 2005... THERE IS LITTLE DISAGREEMENT about the merit of treating frank hypothyroidism. Because of conflicting data, much less consensus exists about whether subclinical hypothyroidism (ie, elevated TSH levels with normal T4) should be treated. Since...

Inflammatory markers and the risk of coronary heart disease in men and women.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... INFLAMMATORY MARKERS HAVE BEEN consistently associated with coronary artery disease (CAD), the most thoroughly studied of which has been C-reactive protein (CRP). Since interleukin-6 (IL6) and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNFa) are cytokines...