Shoulder dystocia: Unpredictable and unpreventable
April 30th 2018Shoulder dystocia is a known complication of vaginal delivery that can be extremely challenging to manage, mostly because it is unpredictable and unpreventable. Hence, shoulder dystocia needs to be remedied with the maneuvers that the obstetrician is already trained in, according to a presentation at the 2018 Annual ACOG Meeting in Austin.
Prolapse treatment has high failure rates, patients still report improved quality of life
April 24th 2018Results of a recent extended study of prolapse surgery showed that in 60% of women, two common procedures failed within 5 years, but patients still reported a higher quality of life than before the surgery. Plus: ACOG has released a revised Committee Opinion to emphasize the idea of the “fourth trimester” in an attempt to reduce maternal morbidity and mortality numbers. Also: A recent study suggests that entering menopause later in life may be associated with a small boost in memory performance years later.
Contemporary OB/GYN contributors at ACOG
April 20th 2018The following board members - both past and current - authors and collaborators will be appearing in Austin at the ACOG Annual Clinical and Scientific Meeting in April. Here is a rundown on where you can find them, the programs they will be participating in, plus links to their recent articles in Contemporary OB/GYN.
Study underscores need to spot signs of heart failure in pregnancy
April 17th 2018Analysis of data from more than 50 million pregnancy-related hospitalizations shows that more needs to be done to identify new mothers at high risk for heart failure (HF) before they leave the hospital. Plus: Incidence of occult cancer during benign gynecology surgery is low but not insignificant. Also: According to a recent study, nearly 5% of non-pregnant women of childbearing age experience major depression, but less than half of those patients use antidepressants.
Maternal Mortality Resources - Preparedness
April 11th 2018A collection of standards, guidelines, tools and articles for further reading on maternal mortality. ACOG guidelines for emergencies and adverse effects; resources for coping with the death of a patient. Plus, news from Haiti about using mobile technology to save mothers.
FDA report a disservice to fibroids patients
April 9th 2018The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has done women a disservice by incompletely examining the evidence for risk and benefits associated with morcellation for women undergoing surgery for suspected fibroids. Of note, within days of the FDA report, the Agency for Healthcare Quality and Research (AHRQ) of the US Department of Health and Human Services published a more rigorous and complete analysis of available data with entirely different results and conclusions. Thirty-six signees recommend that Contemporary OB/GYN’s readers review the AHRQ findings and decide which report serves women best.
Burnout and depression in medical students and mentors
April 9th 2018From our own experience in academic medicine, Dr. Ed Funai and I can vouch for the fact that most medical students are going into medicine for the right reasons-to help others via a career wedded in both science and humanity. Ironically, those same medical students are also experiencing record levels of burnout, substance abuse and depression as they enter their third and fourth years.
Local resistance impacts cost-effectiveness of antibiotics for UTI
April 5th 2018Findings from a recent study indicate that trimethoprim 200 mg BID for 3 or 7 days is the most effective antibiotic for uncomplicated urinary tract infection (UTI) when levels of local resistance to the drug are < 30%. However, when it is ≥ 35%, a single dose of fosfomycin 3g or nitrofurantoin 100 mg BID for 7 days is more cost-effective.