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If you have an infertile patient whose insurance does not cover in vitro fertilization, there's hope.

In an attempt to improve quality of care and reduce costs, Blue Shield of California recently devised a pilot program that compares the practice patterns of solo practitioners against that of peer specialty groups in their region.

Drinking two or more cups of tea a day can lower a woman's chances of getting ovarian cancer by 46%.

The FDA recently issued an alert based on early findings of two new studies suggesting that paroxetine (Paxil, GlaxoSmithKline [GSK]) increases the risk for congenital malformations, particularly those of a cardiac nature, when it is taken by women during the first trimester of pregnancy.

While the reasons for the shorter survival of black women with breast cancer compared to their white counterparts are still not completely understood, new research indicates that most of these women die of causes other than breast cancer and that diabetes and hypertension play important roles.

While the risks for a first-time venous thromboembolism (VTE) or pulmonary embolism (PE) increase with each trimester of pregnancy, they peak during the postpartum period when they are five and 15 times greater, respectively, than during pregnancy, according to the findings of a 30-year population-based study of 50,000 women.

In an effort to improve the diagnosis of breast cancer, an international panel of 23 expert surgeons, radiologists, pathologists, and oncologists recently recommended expanding the roles of minimally invasive needle and sentinel node biopsies and severely limiting the role of open surgical biopsies, citing that almost one third of the 1.7 million breast biopsies performed in the United States are still done surgically.

The percentage of physicians engaged in research in the United States dropped from 4.6% in 1985 to 1.8% in 2003.

I am really hoping you can help me. I was diagnosed last year with Low Malignant Potential ovarian cancer and had a bilateral oophorectomy.

Inside this Issue: Editor's Corner President's Message Vice Presidents Message Endometriosis Association Registry of Cervical Pregnancy Endometriosis: Personal opinions

The objectives of this study were 1. To identify differences between men with Chronic Pelvic Pain Syndrome (CPPS), compared with pain-free men, in surface electromyography (sEMG)/Biofeedback (BFB) readings of pelvic floor muscles and 2.

It is in your best health interest to see your gynecologist or primary care physician regarding specific medical problems or concerns.

It is in your best health interest to see your gynecologist or primary care physician regarding specific medical problems or concerns.

It is in your best health interest to see your gynecologist or primary care physician regarding specific medical problems or concerns.

Are these symptoms of Menopause?Am I experiencing Perimenopause?What should I expect from HRT?

This month's topics: Chronic Pelvic Pain, Ovarian Pain & Cysts, Hysterectomy Pain, Surgery Pain & Adhesions, Endometriosis & Adenomyosis and Other Questions

Although many ob/gyns believe they already work on an interdisciplinary team, most don't really apply the principles of teamwork on labor and delivery. This Harvard team has discovered that applying the concepts used by military and commercial flight teams—an approach called Crew Resource Management—can improve patient safety and reduce the epidemic of lawsuits plaguing the specialty.

A cholesterol-lowering diet during pregnancy may do more than just modify maternal lipid levels; it may significantly reduce the rate of preterm birth among low-risk women, according to researchers from Norway.

No issue is more central to global well-being than the health of mothers and their babies. Every individual, every family, every community at some point or another is intimately involved with pregnancy and the success of childbirth. And yet every day, 1,600 women and more than 10,000 newborns die due to complications that could have been prevented.

Counseling patients on screening for Down syndrome has long been a challenge. Findings from the FASTER trial provide solid evidence upon which to base recommendations for first- or second-trimester testing, or a combination of both.

Whether to treat mild hypothyroidism is controversial—but ob/gyns are increasingly concerned about links with menstrual dysfunction, infertility, early labor, and poor neurodevelopmental outcomes in offspring. In the first of two articles on subclinical thyroid disease, two experts provide the information needed to make that call.

Although many ob/gyns believe they already work on an interdisciplinary team, most don't really apply the principles of teamwork on labor and delivery. This Harvard team has discovered that applying the concepts used by military and commercial flight teams—an approach called Crew Resource Management—can improve patient safety and reduce the epidemic of lawsuits plaguing the specialty.

Physicians who perform abortions in Wisconsin may have another legal requirement to fulfill in order to terminate a pregnancy in cases other than a medical emergency. If SB138 becomes law, a physician in the state will be required to inform a woman seeking an abortion that, if the fetus is at least 20 weeks, it "has the physical structures necessary to experience pain and that abortions can cause substantial pain to the fetus," reported the Associated Press (11/10/05).

The 15th annual rate survey by Medical Liability Monitor (10/2005) shows that, although medical malpractice premiums continued to increase in 2005, the increases were lower than in recent years. The survey found that the majority of rate changes this year were between 0% and 14.8%, whereas half of the rate changes in 2004 were between 6.9% and 24.9%. In addition, about 64% of insurers dropped their rates, made no change to rates, or increased rates less than 10%. These figures may demonstrate that insurance premiums are leveling off.

Not really, according to a study in the Journal of the American Medical Association (10/12/05). The study compared the impact of a pay-for-performance program on quality of care within two sets of physician groups within PacifiCare Health Systems. The study involved an intervention group, which received bonuses for meeting or exceeding 10 clinical and service quality targets, and a comparison group. Both groups were assessed against three measures: cervical cancer screening, mammography, and hemoglobin A1c testing.

Ob/gyn practices across the country are learning that consolidation into bigger practices may just be the key to negotiating better contracts with managed-care companies and underwriting expensive equipment. At least that's what a few ob/gyn practices have found.

No matter how busy physicians are when a pregnancy loss occurs, they should go to the mother's bedside to talk about the event for 10 minutes. Doing so just may "avoid 6 weeks in court," advised James R. Woods, Jr., MD, Henry A. Thiede Professor and Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology Chair at the University of Rochester, speaking at the ACOG District II/NY Annual Meeting in New York City.

Although there's some evidence to suggest that statins reduce the threat of breast cancer, a large, prospective cohort study has concluded that serum lipid levels and cholesterol-lowering drugs, including statins, do not seem to affect a woman's risk of breast cancer.

Researchers from Scotland have created a model to accurately predict for how long a woman treated with ovarian radiation can still become pregnant.