OB GYN News articles from March 2009

OB GYN News archives from March 2009

Physical activity tied to cancer prognosis.(NEWS)(Clinical report)
March 1, 2009... SAN ANTONIO -- Breast cancer survivors with poor physical health, particularly those with limited physical activity, have a worse prognosis than those with adequate physical health, based on the results of a study of almost 3,000 survivors...

Planned primary c-section risky in low-risk women: study was in primiparous women at term.(NEWS)
March 1, 2009... SAN DIEGO -- Planned primary cesarean delivery was associated with increased morbidity and mortality compared with vaginal delivery, among low-risk primiparous women at term, results from a large population-based study showed. Clinicians...

Fertility drug--ovarian cancer risk link unclear.(NEWS)
March 1, 2009... SAN ANTONIO -- Ovarian stimulation for in vitro fertilization was linked to an increased risk of ovarian cancer 15 years later in a large cohort study that followed thousands of women in the Netherlands. However, another study that looked...

OncoVue breast cancer risk test outperforms Gail model.(NEWS)
March 1, 2009... SAN ANTONIO -- The investigational OncoVue breast cancer risk test provided a 2.4-fold improvement over the Gail model in accurately identifying women at elevated risk of breast cancer in a blinded validation study. This is the third...

Women make up majority of youngest ob.gyns.(VITAL SIGNS)
March 1, 2009... Women Make Up Majority of Youngest Ob.Gyns. Note: Age distribution is for 23, 555 male and 19,039 female ob gyns. in the United States in 2007. Source: American Medical Association

FDA approves new fibromyalgia therapy.(NEWS)
March 1, 2009... Milnacipran, a norepinephrine-serotonin reuptake inhibitor, has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration for the management of fibromyalgia in adults, the third drug approved for this indication. Approval was based on the results...

Of pens, mugs, and transparency.(COMMENTARY)
March 1, 2009... With the continuing public push for more transparency from government and corporations, three pharmaceutical companies have decided to get ahead of the game and begin online registries in 2009 that list payments to physicians who perform...

Better obesity drugs wanted.(LETTERS)(Letter to the editor)
March 1, 2009... I disagree with Dr. Helena Rodbard's statement that the anticannabinoid drugs have been "very promising" ("A Major Setback for Obesity Treatment," Guest Editorial, Nov. 15, 2008, p. 8). I spend slightly more than half my time as a clinical...

At-risk African American girls value Gardasil.(GYNECOLOGY)
March 1, 2009... After participating in education and focus groups, poor, at-risk African American adolescent girls and their parents or caregivers had favorable opinions about the girls' receiving the human papillomavirus vaccine, a new study suggests. ...

Lobular involution protects against breast cancer.(GYNECOLOGY)(Clinical report)
March 1, 2009... SAN ANTONIO -- Young women with a benign breast biopsy showing complete lobular involution are at below-average risk of future breast cancer, according to a large prospective Mayo Clinic study. This finding--that lobular involution...

Older black women may have osteoporosis.(GYNECOLOGY)
March 1, 2009... RIO GRANDE, P. R. -- Approximately one in four elderly black women have osteoporosis, findings from a small study suggest. Physicians should not ignore the possibility of osteoporosis in their older black female patients, although these...

Novel breast biopsy option appears promising: the combination procedure is time consuming but may save patients from unnecessary surgery.(GYNECOLOGY)
March 1, 2009... CHICAGO -- A novel procedure that combines mammographically guided hook-wire localization followed by ultrasound-guided sampling provides a minimally invasive alternative to stereotactic biopsy of breast calcifications. The combination...

Zoledronic acid boosts antitumor effects of chemotherapy.(GYNECOLOGY)
March 1, 2009... SAN ANTONIO -- The addition of the bisphosphonate zoledronic acid to standard neoadjuvant chemotherapy reduces tumor size and results in more patients with a pathologic complete response than does chemotherapy alone, which suggests that the...

More breast Ca expected in the elderly, minorities.(GYNECOLOGY)
March 1, 2009... SAN ANTONIO -- Looming demographic shifts in the United States over the coming 20 years are projected to result in major increases in breast cancer cases among the elderly and in minorities. Now is the time to start planning for these...

Test identifies HER2+ patients at low risk.(GYNECOLOGY)
March 1, 2009... SAN ANTONIO -- The 70-gene MammaPrint prognosis signature independently identifies a genomic low-risk subgroup of HER2-positive early breast cancer patients likely to have a good long-term clinical outcome. Dr. Michael Knauer of the...

Small HER2-positive breast Ca needs adjuvant Tx.(GYNECOLOGY)
March 1, 2009... SAN ANTONIO -- Women with HER2-positive breast cancers 1 cm or less in size have a surprisingly high 23% risk of relapse within 5 years, according to a first-of-its-kind study from the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston....

Know the fetus.(MASTER CLASS)
March 1, 2009... The driving force in contemporary times behind the need to evaluate the fetus is the desire of parents to know the most about their fetus as early as possible. Medical indications also may dictate when fetal evaluation is conducted and fetal...

Fetal MRI's leading indications, limitations.(OBSTETRICS)
March 1, 2009... There is a widespread consensus that ultrasound is the clinical standard for the diagnosis of fetal anomalies, and a constellation of factors will ensure its central role into the foreseeable future. Most importantly, both ultrasound...

Prepregnancy obesity: risk factor for postpartum depression.(OBSTETRICS)
March 1, 2009... SAN DIEGO -- Prepregnancy obesity is an independent risk factor for postpartum depression, a large analysis demonstrates. Common pregnancy stressors such as divorce or separation or being involved in a physical fight also were found to...

Cerclage benefits subset of high-risk women.(OBSTETRICS)(Clinical report)
March 1, 2009... SAN DIEGO -- Women with prior early spontaneous preterm birth and a midtrimester sonographic cervical length of less than 25 mm may benefit from cerclage, but the benefit is most pronounced when the cervical length is less than 15 mm, results...

Don't hesitate to give women topical retinoids, expert says.(OBSTETRICS)
March 1, 2009... SAN FRANCISCO -- There is no reason to be hesitant in prescribing topical retinoids to women with acne, according to Dr. Hilary E. Baldwin. While the teratogenic potential of oral isotretinoin is well known, topical retinoids appear to be...

SSRIs and PPHN revisited.(DRUGS, PREGNANCY, & LACTATION)
March 1, 2009... The risks associated with selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor use in pregnancy have been addressed in previous columns because of the accumulating data suggesting that depression during pregnancy is common and that many pregnant women use...

Metabolic risk varies in obese individuals.(CLINICAL ROUNDS)
March 1, 2009... Metabolic risk factors can vary widely among similarly obese individuals, which suggests that obesity is merely one of the factors contributing to insulin resistance and cardiovascular disease, according to the findings of an observational...

Cancer, CVD risk not reduced by multivitamins.(CLINICAL ROUNDS)
March 1, 2009... The use of multivitamins does not alter risk for several common cancers, cardiovascular disease, or death in post-menopausal women, according to a report in the Archives of Internal Medicine. Data on 161, 808 women participating in the...

Metabolic syndrome blunts aspirin's antiplatelet activity.(CLINICAL ROUNDS)
March 1, 2009... New Orleans -- Apparently healthy people with a family history of coronary artery disease who also had metabolic syndrome showed elevated platelet aggregation and reduced platelet responsiveness to aspirin in a study of more than 2,000 people....

Statins cut Alzheimer's risk, regardless of ApoE4 status.(CLINICAL ROUNDS)(Clinical report)
March 1, 2009... Statins appear to cut the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease by up to 56%, even among those with the high-risk apolipoprotein E4 allele, a large observational study has found. The association between statin use and risk reduction was...

A national insurance exchange is proposed.(PRACTICE TRENDS)
March 1, 2009... A national health insurance exchange that would allow individuals to choose among private plans or a new nationwide public plan is the cornerstone of an expert panel's proposal to cover nearly all Americans within 2 years and slow the growth of...

Stimulus bill creates health IT incentives.(PRACTICE TRENDS)
March 1, 2009... The newly enacted economic stimulus law will infuse tens of billions of dollars into the health care sector, providing incentives for using health information technology, increasing funds for primary care training, and launching initiatives in...

ACOG Objects to immigrant mandate.(POLICY & PRACTICE)
March 1, 2009... The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists has joined a coalition opposing the requirement that young women immigrating to the United States receive the human papillomavirus vaccine. Last summer, the Centers for Disease Control and...

Trouble for octuplets' physician?(POLICY & PRACTICE)(Brief article)
March 1, 2009... The Center for Genetics and Society, a public interest group that focuses on the "responsible" use of genetic and reproductive technology, is taking to task the professional organizations that set guidelines for assisted reproduction. In the...

NYC Facebook Page on condoms.(POLICY & PRACTICE)
March 1, 2009... The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene is stepping up its efforts to get city residents to use condoms. Officials at the health department recently set up a page on the social-networking Web site Facebook to tell people where...

Resolved: health care for women.(POLICY & PRACTICE)
March 1, 2009... A new congressional resolution calls for passage of health care reform legislation within 18 months and for the bill to directly address the health care needs of women. The Health Care for Women Resolution, which was introduced in the House and...