Feature Channels: OBGYN

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Women who pursue in vitro fertilization (IVF) to become pregnant are more likely to give birth if they have health insurance that covers the procedure, according to new research at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. The key reason is financial rather than medical: For many people, the high cost for one IVF procedure prohibits women from seeking a second treatment if the first attempt fails. The study is published March 28 in The Journal of the American Medical Association.

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While an HPV vaccine became available over 10 years ago, a study led by the Yale School of Public Health finds that there is “substantial” room for improvement in the way it is recommended and discussed.

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Current pregnancy recommendations don’t work for everyone. Researchers at TSRI and STSI aim to change that.

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The National Institutes of Health has awarded a three-year, $424,081 grant to Magda El-Shenawee, electrical engineering professor, for her work on an intraoperative and rapid method of detecting positive cancer margins during conservative breast cancer surgery, or lumpectomy.

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Prostate cancer, notoriously resistant to immunotherapy due to its immunologically cool nature, triggers two pathways to chill an immune attack after one immunotherapy drug fires up the immune system, researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center report in Nature Medicine.

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A potential new drug to tackle the highly aggressive ‘triple negative’ breast cancer – and a nanoparticle to deliver it directly into the cancer cells – has been developed by UK researchers.

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When small-molecule inhibitors proved elusive, researchers developed a novel strategy: Using large molecule peptides to target a common prostate cancer driver. It may provide a path for developing new therapies against a challenging target.

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Radiation therapists and physicians know that education can reduce anxiety before radiation treatment but lack a standardized tool. In an effort to solve this problem, a multidisciplinary team from Jefferson College of Health Professions and the Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center at Thomas Jefferson University conducted a pilot study to see if a virtual environment education program could reduce some of the anxiety their patients face. They published their results in the Journal of Radiation Oncology.

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It’s well known that excessive weight gain during pregnancy can have a lasting negative impact on the health of a mother and her baby. A new University of Michigan-led study finds that for young mothers (women who gave birth between the ages of 15 and 24), pre-pregnancy body mass index, or BMI, and ethnicity might signal a likelihood for obesity later in life.

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A new study led by UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center researchers identifies distinct patterns of side effects for prostate cancer treatments that patients could use to guide their choices.

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Faced with the negative quality-of-life effects from surgery and radiation treatments for prostate cancer, low risk patients may instead want to consider active surveillance with their physician, according to a study released Tuesday by the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).

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Researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center developed a novel chimeric mouse model to test the combination therapy using immune checkpoint blockades with therapies targeting myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs).

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Scientists from the Florida campus of The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI), the University of California (UC), San Diego and the University of Illinois have found that two immune system molecules may be key to the development of drug resistance in estrogen-driven breast cancers.

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Patients with benign breast tumors may be eligible for a new focused ultrasound–based investigational treatment as part of a pivotal, multi-center clinical study. The trial began last month at the University of Virginia (UVA) Medical Center.

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The study, “Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Oncotype Dx™ Test Receipt in a State-Wide Population-Based Study,” led by Cary P. Gross, MD, Yale University School of Medicine and a member of Yale Cancer Center, is published in the March issue of JNCCN – Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network.

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New research at the Tulane University School of Medicine is looking at an estrogen receptor that could be a site for targeted hormone replacement therapy in post-menopausal women.

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An Ontario-led international clinical trial with 1,206 men with localized prostate cancer shows that compressing radiation treatments into four weeks from eight delivers similar outcomes.

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Food is the most likely source of exposure to the most harmful phthalates, which can also be found in household and personal care products.Exposure during early pregnancy to some phthalates—man-made chemicals commonly found in household plastics, food and personal care products—can have adverse impacts on developing fetuses, according to a new study led by Dr.

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Researchers at Yale Cancer Center/Smilow Cancer Hospital found that black and Hispanic women in Connecticut are significantly less likely to undergo gene expression profiling than white women.

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By pooling the data of several studies, Thomas Jefferson University researchers showed that a higher rate of IV fluids not only decreased C-section rates, but also shortened the overall length of labor by one hour, as well as shortened the pushing phase. The results were published online as an accepted article in Acta Obstetricia et Gynecologica Scandinavica.

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A drug commonly prescribed to pregnant women with a history of delivering babies early provides no benefit. In fact, this drug may even increase the risk of developing gestational diabetes.

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More than half of older women with early stage breast cancer received more radiation therapy than what might be medically necessary, adding additional treatment and health care costs, according to a study led by Duke Cancer Institute researchers.

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Between 2008 and 2012, 434 infants died in Allegheny County within their first year, ranking the county slightly worse than the national average. While blacks make up only 13.2% of the Allegheny County’s population, black infant deaths over a four-year period constituted 42% (225) of all infant deaths. This racial disparity in the infant mortality rate is 27 percent larger in Allegheny County compared to the national rate.

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In a small-scale study of women with previously diagnosed mood disorders, Johns Hopkins researchers report that lower levels of the hormone allopregnanolone in the second trimester of pregnancy were associated with an increased chance of developing postpartum depression in women already known to be at risk for the disorder.

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Two screening tests often used to try to predict which pregnant women are likely to deliver prematurely aren’t effective in low-risk women, according to a national collaborative study of more than 10,000 women, led by clinician-researchers at University of Utah Health Sciences and Intermountain Healthcare. Researchers found that neither transvaginal cervical measurement or fetal fibronectin tests, used separately or together, adequately predicts preterm birth. The findings are published in March 14 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

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Surgeons face psychological stress. Less understood is the physical stress they endure from spending hours in awkward positions in the operating room. This causes shoulder, neck and lower back pain — ailments that lead to sick days, decreased quality of care and early retirements. Researchers are developing a tool to identify poor posture and, ultimately, correct these awkward positions in the operating room.

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After reviewing decades of published studies, a team of pediatric, adolescent and women's health experts concludes that regulatory, behavioral and scientific evidence supports switching oral contraceptives from prescription-only status to over-the-counter (OTC) availability.

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New research from Michigan State University indicates that embryonic tissue, key to the development of a baby’s gender, could contribute to an enlarged prostate, or BPH, in men later in life.

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Scientists led by the University of Birmingham have discovered that a new class of male sex hormones known as androgens plays a key role in the development of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS).

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Endostatin, a naturally occurring protein in humans, can significantly decrease proliferation of castration-resistant prostate cells in culture, and researchers describe the physiological pathways and signaling evoked by endostatin.

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Tumor sequencing is increasingly used to select treatment for patients with cancer, but its role in women with newly diagnosed breast cancer is unknown. Mayo Clinic researchers reported the results of a prospective tumor sequencing study in women receiving chemotherapy prior to breast surgery.

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Scientists identified a molecular driver of inflammation that may finally answer a key question about what causes mild systemic prenatal infections to trigger preterm birth. The finding is an important step to developing a treatment or clinical test for early detection of an entrenched global health problem, according to researchers at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, who report their data March 9 in The Journal of Clinical Investigation Insight (JCI Insight).

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Scientists on the Florida campus of The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have designed two new drug candidates to target prostate and triple negative breast cancers.

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Men with longer exposure to the drugs finasteride and dutasteride had a higher risk of getting persistent erectile dysfunction than men with less exposure, reports a new study. The persistent erectile dysfunction continued despite stopping these drugs, in some cases for months or years. Prior to the study, there was no strong evidence the drugs cause sexual problems that continue after men stop taking them or that taking these drugs for a longer time increases the chance of experiencing sexual problems.

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The study, “Pregnancy Intention and Maternal Alcohol Consumption,” found that the vast majority of women with intended as well as unplanned pregnancies either stopped or decreased drinking after having a positive pregnancy test.

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Surgeons and radiologists at four hospitals in coastal New Jersey are among an elite few to use the SAVI SCOUT® surgical guidance system.

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Hormone replacement therapy has long been controversial as studies have associated it with health benefits and risks. While some studies suggest that it lowers the risk of osteoporosis and improves some aspects of heart health, others link it to higher risk of cancer and stroke. Now, a new imaging study by investigators at Cedars-Sinai, suggests that women using hormone replacement therapy to relieve menopause symptoms face a lower risk of death and show lower levels of atherosclerosis compared to women who do not use hormone therapy.

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University of Delaware researchers reviewed previous studies about how women manage menopause symptoms and found they often use alternative treatments. But they often do not inform their doctors about them. The UD study aims to open lines of communication between healthcare providers and patients.

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Women at high risk for breast cancer who received a letter informing them of their options for additional imaging with contrast-enhanced MRI of the breast (in addition to a letter sent to their primary care physician) were more likely to return to the center for additional screening with MRI.

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The College of American Pathologists Invites Public Comment on Guideline for Quantitative Image Analysis (QIA) of HER2 Immunohistochemistry (IHC) for Breast Cancer

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Ovarian cancer researchers have identified a protein biomarker expressed on the surface of tumour cells in high-grade serous ovarian cancer, the most common and lethal subtype of the disease.

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Being overweight or obese during pregnancy increases the chance of having a child with cerebral palsy, according to new research led by the University of Michigan School of Public Health and the Karolinska Institute in Sweden.

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The clinic will help men with genetic predisposition to prostate cancer identify and monitor their risk of the disease.

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Marc Bjurlin, DO, (right) director of urologic oncology at NYU Lutheran Medical Center, used state-of-the-art technology to help patient Mikhail Kurbesov beat prostate cancer.

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A Michigan State University researcher has received a $1.65 million grant that looks to bring a better understanding about fertility treatments in women by studying the effect of hormones on ovulation and reproduction in cows.

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Blocking a protein found on the surface of ovarian cancer cells could prevent or reduce the spread of the disease to other organs, according to new research at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

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Most women want to be involved in shared decision-making with oncologists when faced with treatment decisions for breast cancer, a new study from Leeds Beckett University has found.