Internet Resources Facilitate Ob.Gyn. Practice.

AMELIA ISLAND, FLA. -- Internet access needs to be part of every ob.gyn.'s clinical practice, Dr. David A. Nagey said at an ob.gyn. update sponsored by Emory University.

The World Wide Web provides the opportunity for physicians to learn new things and refresh their current knowledge base. "Frequently I see problems that I've never heard of before or have forgotten about," said Dr. Nagey, director of the perinatal outreach program at Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore.

Dr. Nagey has a computer on his desk that is connected to the Internet to assist in patient inquiries, many of which are prompted by dubious information they have found online.

For example, imagine that a 32-year-old patient comes in for preconception counseling. She and her partner want to know about their risk of Tay-Sachs and Canavan's disease, given that they are both of Asbkenazi Jewish heritage. They also want to know about the risk of Smith-Lemli-Opitz syndrome, which affects one of their siblings.

One place to go is the Web site of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (www.acog.org). ACOG members can access committee opinions, educational and technical bulletins, and practice bulletins. Searching for "Tay-Sachs disease" and "Canavan disease" at the AGOG site brings up the committee opinions on each disease, which provide information on screening and counseling.

For more information on the intricacies of genetics, go to the National Center for Biotechnology Information's site, which has a feature called the Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man (www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/Omim/searchomim.html). Searching for "Smith-Lemli-Opitz syndrome" brings up detailed information about the disease and a clinical synopsis.

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