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In this letter to the editor, the author discusses how physicians have lost their ability to individualize care.

The author discusses the American Board of Medical Specialties' recognition of female pelvic medicine and reconstructive surgery as a subspecialty in obstetrics and gynecology.

In a time when repeat cesarean deliveries are becoming more frequent, it can be difficult to deliver an infant when the vertex is floating high out of the pelvis.

The incidence of many types of cancer increases with increasing adult heigh, according to findings of a recent study.

Trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole 480 mg once daily is more effective than cranberry capsules 500 mg twice daily for the prevention of recurrent urinary tract infection in premenopausal women, but it exacerbates the problem of emerging antibiotic resistance.

Women who have difficulty breastfeeding in the first 2 weeks after giving birth are about twice as likely to experience depression at 2 months postpartum, according to study findings.

Nearly 50% of sexually transmitted infections occur in adolescents and young adults between 15 and 24 years of age.

A Pennsylvania woman pregnant with twins went to a hospital for induction of labor at term. Her infant was born, having a seizure 2 hours after birth. He was diagnosed with cerebral palsy and is now fed via tube.

An advisory panel to the CDC recommends that physicians administer the tetanus diphtheria acellular pertussis vaccine to pregnant women after 20 weeks' gestation.

Long-term use of high doses of fluconazole during pregnancy may be associated with birth defects, according to the FDA.

Current cigarette smokers have a higher risk of bladder cancer than previously reported, and the risk in women is comparable to that in men, say the authors of a study from the National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD.

"Ovarian inclusion cysts found by ultrasonography in postmenopausal women don?t necessarily mean that the women will develop ovarian, breast, or endometrial cancer, a British study reports. "

New recommendations from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) urge placing inflatable compression devices on the legs of women undergoing cesarean delivery to prevent thromboembolism and reduce maternal mortality. Practice Bulletin #123, published in Obstetrics and Gynecology (2011; 118[3]:718-729), updates guidelines on preventing, managing, and treating thromboembolism during pregnancy.

Women who take multivitamins regularly around the time they become pregnant may have a lower risk of premature labor and giving birth to small-for-gestational-age (SGA) babies, a study of 35,897 women in the Danish National Birth Cohort suggests.

Women who smoke or who have smoked are more likely to experience bladder symptoms of urgency and frequency than women who have never smoked, according to a new study published in Obstetrics and Gynecology (2011;118[3]:643-648).

Asherman’s Syndrome is an extremely common and occasionally complicated disease entity. It takes many forms and can follow a routine D&C, a hysteroscopy, a delivery or even a surgical procedure such as a myomectomy or polypectomy. This case study from Dr. Alan Copperman reviews diagnosis and treatment options.

Compared to healthy women, the researchers found significantly higher serum mesothelin antigen levels in women with ovarian cancer, benign conditions, and unexplained infertility. Luborsky and colleagues further noted that mesothelin antibodies had a higher affinity in the infertility groups, especially premature ovarian failure and ovulatory dysfunction, than that in the healthy, benign, or ovarian cancer groups. Specifically, they found significantly higher positive sera in women with premature ovarian failure and ovulatory dysfunction as compared to normal sera.

A recent study by Katherine Roland and colleagues from the CDC has found that a majority doctors are still recommending yearly Pap tests to screen for cervical cancer.

Traditional open gynecologic surgery using a large incision for access to the uterus and surrounding anatomy has for many years been the standard approach to many gynecologic procedures. Yet, with open surgery can come significant pain, trauma, a long recovery process, risk of adhesions, risk of incision breakdown, and threat to surrounding organs and nerves. For women facing gynecologic surgery, the period of pain, discomfort, and extended time away from normal daily activities that usually follows traditional surgery can understandably cause significant anxiety.

Neena Agarwala, MD, MSc, FACOG, performs an endometriosis excision using robotic surgery.

Neena Agarwala, MD, Msc, FACOG performs a robotic supracervical hysterectomy on a 20-week uterus.

Neena Agarwala, MD, Msc, FACOG performs robotic hysterectomy in a patient with a large uterus.

The most lethal reproductive cancer in women, ovarian cancer, is estimated to affect 12.8 per 100,000 women in the United States. As such, researchers continue to look into novel ways to eradicate the disease. Armed with the knowledge that almost all (90%) ovarian cancers can be characterized by their expression of alpha-folate receptor, Dr De-Gang Song, postdoctoral investigator in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, and colleagues attempted to engineer T cells to see if they would help shrink the cancer tumors.

Rates of asthma continue to rise in the general population, which translates to increased rates among women who are pregnant. When this happens, asthma not only affects the mother but the fetus as well. However, the specific effects are unclear. With that in mind, Dr Vanessa Murphy, postdoctoral research fellow school of medicine and public health at the University of Newcastle in Australia, and colleagues conducted a meta-analysis to determine if maternal asthma is associated with adverse perinatal outcomes.

Are younger women with breast cancer more likely to develop another primary cancer later in life as compared to their older counterparts? According to some experts, younger women may have more unfavorable tumor characteristics. Others hypothesize this increase is observed because younger women can be observed for longer periods. To better understand this phenomenon, Dr Lene Mellemkjaer, senior researcher at the Institute of Cancer Epidemiology of the Danish Cancer Society in Copenhagen, Denmark, and colleagues conducted a study of 304,703 women who received a diagnosis of breast cancer between 1943 and 2006 according to registries in Denmark, Norway, and Finland.

A coalition of expert organizations will meet in Washington, DC, on September 20 to give a progress report to the medical and scientific communities on their efforts to define the reproductive stages in a woman?s life from perimenopause to late menopause. The intent of the daylong symposium is to guide research toward eventually predicting the onset of the menopausal transition and menopause in individual women. MORE

"Vaginal-perianal cultures for group B streptococcal infections (GBS) during pregnancy yield results comparable to vaginal-rectal cultures and cause less patient discomfort, a new study from Riverside Methodist Hospital and OhioHealth Research & Innovation Institute (Columbus, Ohio) reports. MORE "

"Many doctors screen women for cervical cancer every year rather than waiting the recommended 3 years after a normal test result, a recent study finds. However, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, annual screening offers no real advantage over less-frequent tests. MORE "

"Women whose babies are delivered by a provider who performs few deliveries are more likely to suffer childbirth complications than women whose providers have a higher volume of deliveries, according to a new study published in Obstetrics and Gynecology (2011;118[3]:521-527). MORE "

A new recommendation by The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists urges physicians to offer mammography screening annually to women beginning at age 40 years. The College previously recommended that women aged 40 years receive mammograms every 1 to 2 years and women aged 50 years have mammograms annually.