OB GYN News articles from September 2000

OB GYN News archives from September 2000

Laser an Alternative To Amnioreduction.
September 1, 2000... MONTREAL -- A new approach to fetoscopic laser surgery offers an alternative to standard serial amnioreduction in cases of severe twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome, Dr. Greg Ryan said at the joint annual meeting of the Society for Obstetricians...

Behavioral Factors Affect Bacterial Vaginosis Risk.
September 1, 2000... Douching, smoking, increased sexual activity are independent risk factors. INCLINE VILLAGE, NEV. -- Douching, smoking, and the absence of vaginal lactobacillus emerged as powerful independent risk factors for acquisition of bacterial...

Clover Preserves Lumbar Spine BMD in Some Women.
September 1, 2000... Only pre-, perimenopausal women benefit. TORONTO -- The good news for herbal medicine enthusiasts is that red clover isoflavones showed evidence of efficacy for prevention of osteoporosis in a large double-blind clinical trial. The bad...

Add Bisphosphonates When Estrogen Alone Doesn't Work.
September 1, 2000... MONTREAL -- Many women on estrogen replacement therapy continue to have low bone mineral density and could benefit from adding another bone-saving therapy to their regimen, Dr. Brian Walsh said at the joint annual meeting of the Society of...

Mass Screening for Ovarian Cancer May Be Viable With Transvaginal Ultrasound.
September 1, 2000... Mass screening for ovarian carcinoma appears to be viable using a transvaginal ultrasonography exam that takes only 30 seconds per patient, according to Dr. Shigemi Sato and associates at Hirosaki (Japan) University. More than 183,000...

Reimbursement-opoly.
September 1, 2000... Practicing medicine has turned into a kafkaesque version of Monopoly. The game is played with very specific rules known only to insurance companies. There are rule books, but each company interprets them in ways that suit their own best...

Oxytocin-Augmented Labor May Not Increase Pain.
September 1, 2000... MONTREAL -- Augmentation of labor with oxytocin does not make patients more uncomfortable, Dr. Shiv Sharma reported at the annual meeting of the Society for Obstetric Anesthesia and Perinatology. "It's generally believed that oxytocin...

Pregnancy Safe For Women With Cystic Fibrosis.
September 1, 2000... Women with cystic fibrosis can safely undergo pregnancy, according to results of a Canadian study. In an investigation that should help dispel the assumption that women with cystic fibrosis should avoid pregnancy, Dr. Marita Gilljam of St....

Medical Mistakes?
September 1, 2000... I really don't understand it: Physicians love to nit-pick the printed word. In fact, we thrive on it. If you publish a study on diabetes, thousands of doctors across the country will tear it apart, mercilessly, word by word, line by line,...

PRO & CON.
September 1, 2000... Is it acceptable to prescribe extended-cycle or continuous-use OCs to women with withdrawal bleeding? YES This may be appropriate for some women who have given adequate informed consent regarding the off-label use and experimental...

Counsel Patients on Risk of Uterine Rupture.
September 1, 2000... SAN FRANCISCO -- Patients who have a history of cesarean section and elect to have a trial of labor should be told to arrive early in labor for evaluation and management in a hospital setting where a uterine rupture can be recognized and...

If One Twin Dies In Utero, The Other Is at Risk of Cerebral Impairment.
September 1, 2000... When one twin fetus dies in utero, at least one in five surviving twins is at risk of serious cerebral impairment, according to Dr. P. O. D. Pharoah and Dr. Y Adi of the University of Liverpool (England). Investigators surveyed the...

Persistent Occipitoposterior Position: Prepare for the Worst.
September 1, 2000... MIAMI BEACH -- In primiparous pregnancies, fewer than one in three fetuses in a persistent occipitoposterior position wind up having a spontaneous vaginal delivery, and even then, mothers are at a high risk for severe perineal tears, according...

Early Findings Link Magnesium Sulfate to Lower Rates of Cerebral Palsy.
September 1, 2000... MIAMI BEACH -- Prenatal exposure to magnesium sulfate may have a neuroprotective effect against cerebral palsy, suggests evidence from the Magnesium and Neurologic Endpoints Trial. Presenting his findings at the annual meeting of the...

Dangers of Systemic Corticosteroids.
September 1, 2000... The perception that systemic corticosteroids are safe during pregnancy has persisted until recently, despite solid data showing a possible association between corticosteroid use during the first trimester and some birth defects and toxic...

Promote Breast-Feeding Even to Women Who Aren't Pregnant Yet.
September 1, 2000... ASHEVILLE, N.C. -- By promoting breast-feeding to women, including even those who aren't yet pregnant, ob.gyns. may be able to help boost the number of mothers who go on to successfully breastfeed, Dr. Edward Newton said at the annual Southern...

Hospitals Lack Perinatal GBS Prevention Policies.
September 1, 2000... ATLANTA -- The number of hospitals with a policy in place for preventing perinatal infections with group B streptococcus appears to have plateaued. "In the future, we may have to look to providers" to insure that prophylaxis for group B...

Hypoxia Named As Possible Culprit in SIDS.
September 1, 2000... NEW YORK -- Sudden infant death syndrome may not be so sudden after all. In analyzing tracings from child monitors of babies who succumbed to SIDS, researchers have found that chronic hypoxia, as evidenced by intermittent episodes of...

Men Born of Preeclamptic Moms Suffer More Chronic Ills.
September 1, 2000... CHICAGO -- Men born from preeclamptic pregnancies suffer twice as much chronic disease as men whose mothers did not have preeclampsia, according to preliminary data. When 61 men whose mothers had preeclampsia were compared with 45...

Majority of Prophylactic Cervical Cerclages Found Unnecessary.
September 1, 2000... MIAMI BEACH -- The majority of prophylactic cervical cerclages may not be necessary, Dr. Sietske Althuisius said at the annual meeting of the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine. In a study of patients with a history of at least one...

Paclitaxel Plus Cisplatin: Better Ovarian Ca Survival.
September 1, 2000... The combination of paclitaxel and cisplatin can be considered standard therapy for advanced ovarian cancer, now that two large, phase III clinical trials have demonstrated that it offers a survival advantage over the previous standard of...

Regimen Promises Less Severe Neurotoxicity With Chemotherapy.
September 1, 2000... New YORK -- Women with advanced ovarian cancer may have better chemotherapy options in the next few years, as the results of German clinical trials become available. Combination chemotherapy with cisplatin and paclitaxel has been adopted...

BRCA1 Gene Therapy Trials For Ovarian Ca Reopened.
September 1, 2000... ASHEVILLE, NC. -- Phase II trials of BRCA1 gene therapy for ovarian cancer have reopened, after a 2-year hiatus, which began because of efficacy issues and was extended due to safety concerns. "We expect this phase to take between 24 and 36...

Breast Cancer Treatment Outcomes Best at Large-Volume Hospitals.
September 1, 2000... NEW ORLEANS -- Breast-cancer patients treated at large-volume hospitals had a more than 20% higher survival rate, compared with patients treated at hospitals that see the fewest number of breast cancer patients. "This does not say that...

Menopause Itself Doesn't Trigger Disturbed Sleep.
September 1, 2000... LAS VEGAS -- Among perimenopausal women, lifestyle factors such as smoking, inactivity, and obesity appear to play a more significant role in disrupting healthy sleep patterns than do other factors, preliminary results from an ongoing study...

Screen Semen Donations for HPV DNA.
September 1, 2000... SAN FRANCISCO -- Semen donors may be giving more than their sperm. Sensitive polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests found human papilomavirus (HPV) DNA sequences in sperm samples from 24 (53%) of 45 men known to be infected with HPV and from...

Tamoxifen Plus Radiation Best for Invasive Breast Ca.
September 1, 2000... NEW ORLEANS -- A combination of tamoxifen and radiation is the best way to prevent breast cancer recurrence in the affected breast of women with early-stage, node-negative, invasive breast cancer. In a study of 999 women who had an initial...

Defensins May Flag Silent PID.
September 1, 2000... INCLINE VILLAGE, NEV. -- Vaginal fluid defensin levels show considerable promise as a means of identifying women with silent or unrecognized pelvic inflammatory disease, Dr. Harold C. Wiesenfeld said at the annual meeting of the Infectious...

Chart Reminders Boost Birth Control Efforts.
September 1, 2000... ORLANDO, FLA. -- Attaching reminders to the charts of women with negative pregnancy tests can promote birth control counseling as well as dispensing of birth control methods, Dr. Michael Wootten said at the annual meeting of the Society of...

Recognize Risky Sexual Behavior, Cut STD Reinfection Rates.
September 1, 2000... ASHEVILLE, N.C. -- Developing a keen eye for risky behavioral traits in patients can go a long way toward identifying asymptomatic sexually transmitted diseases, and even preventing patients from, being infected or reinfected, Dr. Edward Newton...

Uterine Artery Embolization Improves Fibroids.
September 1, 2000... SAN FRANCISCO -- Uterine artery embolization relieved symptoms in the vast majority of patients with fibroids in two posters presented at the annual meeting of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. The procedure, which...

ASCUS Results? Consider Typing for High-Risk HPV.
September 1, 2000... ASHEVILLE, N.C. -- Human papillomavirus testing can be cost effective if specimens are taken in conjunction with Pap smears and a few simple guidelines are followed, suggested Dr. Kenneth Noller, professor and chair of obstetrics and gynecology...

Imiquimod May Prevent Conversion Of Genital Warts to Carcinoma.
September 1, 2000... SEA ISLAND, GA. -- Topical imiquimod may be useful in the prevention of squamous cell carcinoma in immunocompromised patients with genital warts, Dr. Calvin O. McCall said at the annual meeting of the Georgia Society of Dermatologists. He...

Oncolytic Virus Enters Trial for Targeted Cancer Tx.
September 1, 2000... DENVER -- A genetically modified oncolytic virus is about to be used in a clinical trial that will determine whether it can target cancer more effectively than conventional chemotherapy, Dr. David Kim said at the annual meeting of the American...

Doctors Miss Opportunities to Treat Osteoporosis.
September 1, 2000... Physicians are missing an opportunity to prevent further fractures by failing to evaluate and treat osteoporosis in women who sustain wrist fractures, said Dr. Kevin B. Freedman and his associates at the University of Pennsylvania,...

No BMD Loss With Thyroid Replacement Tx.
September 1, 2000... CHICAGO -- Exogenous thyroid replacement therapy does not reduce bone mineral density in women, Swedish investigators found in a population-based study of more than 10,000 women 49-69 years old. Thyroxine is one of the drugs most widely...

History, Evolution, and Diagnosis of PMDD in the Ob/Gyn Office.
September 1, 2000... RECENTLY, A PANEL of experts was convened to present information to help ob/ gyns deal effectively with clinical presentations of premenstrual disorders. The symposium, entitled "New Horizons in the Management of Mood Disorders in Women of...

SSRIs in the Treatment of PMDD: A Critical Review.
September 1, 2000... "THE INCLUSION of research diagnostic criteria for premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD) in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, recognizes the fact that some women have extremely distressing emotional and...

Course and Treatment of Mood Disorders During Pregnancy and the Postpartum Period.
September 1, 2000... PREGNANT PATIENTS who may have a psychiatric illness like major depression "provoke a great deal of anxiety in clinicians, due in part to the fact that ob/ gyns may not be familiar with the course of these illnesses and in part to an...

Non-antidepressant Treatment of PMS/PMDD.
September 1, 2000... THE UNDERLYING etiology of premenstrual syndrome (PMS) and premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD) is not known for certain, but it is known that "some vulnerability, abnormality, or dysregulation" of ovarian steroids has a role, probably in...

DHEA Found to Increase Bone Mineral Density.
September 1, 2000... CHICAGO -- The adrenal steroid dehydroepiandrosterone has. favorable effects on bone mineral density in postmenopausal women but not in elderly men, French investigators found in a double-blind, randomized trial reported at the World Congress...

Depression Tied To Lower BMD, More Body Fat.
September 1, 2000... TORONTO -- Patients with past or current major depression have significantly less lean body mass, more body fat, and lower bone mineral density than matched controls with no history of depression, Dr. Paulo J. Negro reported at the annual...

Bone Research Homes In on Anabolic Agents.
September 1, 2000... CHICAGO -- The field of osteoporosis prevention and treatment is being spurred by burgeoning research in the field of anabolic agents, with recombinant parathyroid hormone leading the pack. Parathyroid hormone is "clearly the most promising...

Parathyroid Hormone Yields Big Cut in Fracture Risk.
September 1, 2000... TORONTO -- Daily self-injection of recombinant parathyroid hormone dramatically reduced the risk of both vertebral and nonvertebral fractures in a large, phase III clinical trial. "These benefits exceed those reported for any prior...

Vitamin D Alone Doesn't Reduce Fractures.
September 1, 2000... CHICAGO -- Vitamin D supplementation alone, without supplemental calcium, did not reduce fracture risk among Norwegian nursing home residents, Dr. Haakon B. Meyer reported at the World Congress on Osteoporosis. In a separate presentation...

Raloxifene a Safe Alternative to Standard HRT.
September 1, 2000... ASHEVILLE, N.C. -- Menopausal women who are not happy with standard hormone replacement therapy should consider the selective estrogen receptor modulator raloxifene a safe and reasonably equal alternative, Dr. Mary Jane Minkin advised at the...

Endocrine Society Aims to Raise PCOS Awareness.
September 1, 2000... TORONTO -- The Endocrine Society is gearing up for a major public and physician education campaign targeting polycystic ovary syndrome. The goal of the campaign is to stop the pigeonholing of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) as an obscure...

Experts Still Debate the Long-Term Cardiovascular Effects of PCOS.
September 1, 2000... TORONTO -- The question of whether polycystic ovary syndrome is associated with an increased long-term cardiovascular event rate has emerged as a major area of controversy Dr. Rogerio A. Lobo said at the annual. meeting of the Endocrine...

Metformin Effective for Treating Teens With PCOS.
September 1, 2000... TORONTO -- Metformin appears to be an effective treatment in adolescents with polycystic ovary syndrome, Dr. Kenneth L. Jones reported at the annual meeting of the Endocrine Society. His unfunded pilot study of the insulin-sensitizing agent...

Cromolyn a Bust For Vulvar Vestibulitis.
September 1, 2000... INCLINE VILLAGE, NEV. - Add cromolyn cream to the lengthy list of agents that are ineffective for chronic idiopathic vulvar vestibulitis syndrome, Dr. Paul Nyirjesy said at the annual meeting of the Infectious Diseases Society for Obstetrics...

Diabetic Women With UTIs Require Extended Tx.
September 1, 2000... SAN FRANCISCO -- Half of diabetic women with a lower urinary tract infection also have an upper tract infection, even though they may not have symptoms of pyelonephritis, Dr. Richard A. Jacobs said at a meeting on infectious diseases sponsored...

In Vitro Maturation May Cut Need for Fertility Drugs.
September 1, 2000... MONTREAL -- The process of collecting immature eggs from unstimulated ovaries, and then maturing them in the lab before fertilizing them, known as in vitro maturation, may someday completely eliminate the need for fertility drugs during in...

High Body Mass Index May Hinder Effectiveness of ART.
September 1, 2000... RANCHO MIRAGE, CALIF. -- Women with high body masses indexes may have less success with assisted reproductive technology than their thinner counterparts. In study of oocyte maturation following subcutaneous or intramuscular injections of...

Blastocyst Transfer Appears to Produce More Monozygotic Twins.
September 1, 2000... RANCHO MIRAGE, CALIF. -- Blastocyst transfer significantly increases the rate of monozygotic twins, Dr. Robert Boostanfar reported at the annual meeting of the Pacific Coast Reproductive Society. He evaluated the rate of monozygotic...

New York Poised to Post Physician Profiles Online.
September 1, 2000... New York physicians may soon face online public disclosure of their malpractice settlements and judgments, as well as some hospital disciplinary actions. Over strong objections from organized medicine in the state, the legislature this...

Turn Physician Profiling by HMOs to Your Advantage.
September 1, 2000... LANCASTER, PA. -- Physician profiling is a fact of life these days. Instead of resisting a trend that stands little chance of going away, Dr. Gus C. Geraci urges physicians to consider how they can benefit individually from it. As...

FDA Issues New Regs on Reuse of Medical Devices.
September 1, 2000... SAN JOSE, CALIF. -- Hospitals that reuse medical devices labeled or otherwise intended for single use and third-party reprocessors of these devices now face stringent new Food and Drug Administration regulations. Last month, the FDA issued...

GOP ON WOMEN'S HEALTH.
September 1, 2000... Direct access to health care for women is a key pledge in the national Republican party platform. The GOP promises a comprehensive women's health care initiative including access to medical technology, equality in health services delivery,...

CONTRACEPTIVE COVERAGE SUIT.
September 1, 2000... Planned Parenthood, in a class action suit filed in the Seattle federal court, is charging Bartell Drugs with sex discrimination because it offers employees a private insurance plan that does not pay for prescription contraceptives. Exclusion...

EMERGENCY OCs MAY Go OTC.
September 1, 2000... Food and Drug Administration representatives questioned women's groups testifying at a recent public hearing on how to best make emergency contraceptives more readily available while still limiting access to minors. Several women's health and...

WOMEN'S RESEARCH FUNDING.
September 1, 2000... NIH awarded a total of $5.5 million to 11 universities under a program looking to increase the number of researchers working on women's health issues. Junior researchers in an interdisciplinary setting will be paired with senior investigators...

MAMMOGRAPHY RATES RISE.
September 1, 2000... Sixty-nine percent of women aged 50 years and older reported in 1998 having a mammogram in the previous 2 years, up from 61% in 1994 and only 27% in 1987, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's "Health, United States,...

Screen All Hypertensives for Microalbuminuria.
September 1, 2000... ATLANTA -- It's now reasonable to routinely screen for microalbuminuria in all patients with essential hypertension, two prominent nephrologists declared at a meeting on clinical nephrology sponsored by the National Kidney Foundation. The...

Behavorial Symptoms Improve by Adding an SSRI.
September 1, 2000... BOCA RATON, FLA. -- The addition of the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor sertraline to the cholinesterase inhibitor donepezil may slightly improve certain behavioral symptoms in Alzheimer's disease, without increasing adverse effects, Dr....

Stroke More Deadly in Blacks.
September 1, 2000... Black women aged 35-44 years have a 4.2fold greater risk of stroke mortality than similarly aged white women, Dr. Carma Ayala reported at an international conference on women, heart disease, and stroke. The magnitude of the disparity...

PET for Alzheimer's Dx.
September 1, 2000... A brain scan with positron-emission tomography (PET) is the most accurate way to diagnose Alzheimer's disease. PET imaging using a fluorodeoxyglucose tracer identified Alzheimer's disease with an overall accuracy of 87% and diagnosed any...

IBD Patients Need Densitometry.
September 1, 2000... Inflammatory bowel disease patients are at elevated risk for osteopenia and osteoporosis, even if they have never been prescribed corticosteroids, researchers reported at the annual Digestive Disease Week. "Every single patient with IBD...

Naproxen Versus Rofecoxib.
September 1, 2000... Rheumatoid arthritis patients who took supertherapeutic doses of rofecoxib for pain experienced fewer than half as many significant upper GI events as patients taking standard doses of naproxen. The results of the large prospective study,...

Tips From the Masters of Obesity.
September 1, 2000... How better to learn about effective strategies for obesity treatment than to study individuals who have managed to shed heroic amounts of weight and--far tougher--kept those pounds off long term? That's the premise of the National Weight...

Eating Right Pays Off for Women.
September 1, 2000... New findings support what many people have long believed: A healthy diet can prolong life--at least in women. Previous studies have looked at the role of a single food or food group in disease prevention or promotion. In the first study to...

Contact Allergy to Preservatives.
September 1, 2000... Preservatives are now the primary offenders in contact allergies associated with personal care products, Dr. Thomas Apgar said at the annual meeting of the Georgia Society of Dermatologists. "During the 1990s fragrance allergies were the...

Look for Organic, Treatable Causes of Glossodynia.
September 1, 2000... SANDESTIN, FLA. -- Symptoms of glossodynia are too often written off as psychosomatic, Dr. Roy S. Rogers III said at a meeting of the Alabama Dermatology Society. Some studies have suggested that the majority of cases of this often...

Ovarian Cancer Trial.
September 1, 2000... Patients recently diagnosed with ovarian cancer are needed at medical sites across the country for a phase III clinical trial of an antibody therapy Abbot Laboratories and Antisoma are collaborating to develop HMFG1 (human milk fat globule 1)...

Hispanic Health Guide.
September 1, 2000... "Guia para la buena salud para Los hispanos" (Guide to Healthy Living for Hispanics) is part drama and part documentary-style video depicting positive and negative behaviors relating to high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and diabetes. The...

Clinical Trials Site.
September 1, 2000... The National Institutes of Health, at http://clinicaltrials.gov, offers information on over 4,000 federal and private medical studies involving patients at more than 47,000 U.S. locations. Information includes location of clinical trials; their...

Preventing Medical Errors.
September 1, 2000... A free, one-page fact sheet from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, "20 Tips to Help Prevent Medical Errors, offers practical tips to help people protect themselves from errors in their health care. Research-based recommendations...

Dosage Errors.
September 1, 2000... The nonprofit Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP) has launched "Textbook Errata," a new section on its Web site, www.ismp.org. Devoted to correcting dosage errors and other incorrect information found in published articles or...

Varicella Screening Often Not Done.
September 15, 2000... INCLINE VILLAGE, NEV. -- Obstetricians have largely dropped the ball to date in the national campaign to stamp out varicella, according to several ob.gyn. infectious disease experts. The obstetrics community doesn't seem to have taken to...

Use of Multiple Steroid Courses Not Recommended.
September 15, 2000... No evidence that they help, harm women in preterm labor or their fetuses. BETHESDA, MD. -- Multiple courses of prenatal cortico-steroids should not be given to women at risk for preterm delivery unless they are enrolled in a clinical...

Norplant Kits Expiring in 2004 Should Not Be Used.
September 15, 2000... Shelf-life stability in question. Norplant users affected by a recently reported problem with some of the devices should consider using a barrier method of contraception pending further investigation, according to the company that...

Renal Transplant Recipients on Cyclosporin A Develop Breast Masses.
September 15, 2000... WASHINGTON -- Premenopausal women who have undergone renal transplant and are taking cyclosporin A often develop benign breast masses, Dr. M. Muttarak said at the annual meeting of the American Roentgen Ray Society. In a study of nine such...

Significant Drop in Varicella Cases Reported After Introduction of Vaccine in 1995.
September 15, 2000... INCLINE VILLAGE, NEV. -- Cases of varicella plunged by 71%-89% at the nation's three active surveillance sites between the first half of 1995 and the first half of 1999. This represents a major success story for the varicella vaccine...

Varicella Vaccination in Pregnancy Appears Okay.
September 15, 2000... INCLINE VILLAGE, NEV. -- Outcomes of a worldwide registry for women who accidentally received varicella virus vaccine during pregnancy are highly reassuring to date, according to Dr. Robert C. Sharrar. Spontaneous abortion rates and fetal...

Over-the-Counter Statins? No.
September 15, 2000... The variety of nonprescription drugs and vitamins has skyrocketed in recent years. These products now seem to include panaceas for every ailment known to mankind. About $12 billion each year is spent on these products for real and fancied...