Clinician to Clinician: Malpractice crisis: If we can't beat them, join them
May 1st 2007The cost of malpractice premiums threatens our specialty's very survival. Yet powerful interest groups impede tort reform. What if, however, physicians concede the point that tort reform is not our priority? A strategy of if we can't beat them, join them might ultimately prove the key to the enduring solutions that we seek.
Highlights of a new position statement on hormone therapy
May 1st 2007from The North American Menopause Society: The position statement evaluates the risk-benefit ratio of peri- and postmenopausal estrogen therapy and estrogen-progestogen therapy for both treatment of menopause-related symptoms and disease prevention.
DNA microarrays: A promising new option for prenatal diagnosis
April 15th 2007Array-based comparative genomic hybridization detects significantly more and smaller abnormalities than standard chromosome analysis. Already in limited use, the test may well replace karyotyping for prenatal diagnosis of genetic disorders.
Preeclampsia: Creating a urinary screening test
April 15th 2007After thromboembolic disease, preeclampsia is the second most common cause of maternal death in the US. Although the condition can't be prevented, early identification of women at risk for developing it would enable obstetricians to improve clinical outcomes for both mother and child. With the recent identification of angiogenic factors present in high concentrations in the urine of women at risk, a urinary screening test may soon be a reality.
Legally Speaking: The undiagnosed breast mass
April 1st 2007Breast masses are common findings during pregnancy and often difficult to accurately diagnose. That difficulty combined with the false sense of security that a negative ultrasound might impart, can occasionally lull a physician into downplaying what may be a very serious condition.
Premenopausal atherosclerosis: Setting the stage for later clinical disease
March 1st 2007Considering the amount of experimental evidence to show that adequate amounts of endogenous premenopausal estrogen protect a woman from coronary artery disease, there's reason to believe that the hormone should still play an important role in protecting women after menopause.