All News

These cases are interesting in that they were both defense verdicts and the issues were proving when the retained foreign object was left in the abdomen and what the object was.

A new rapid test for Group B Streptococcus (GBS) provides reliable results in hours, compared with traditional culture that takes days.

You may or may not have read Bitter Pill: Why Medical Bills are Killing Us, the cover story of the March 4, 2013, issue of Time magazine. However, I am confident your hospital administrators have read the article and were furious.

Even after stratification by hospital size, teaching status, and geographic location, rates of cesarean delivery among hospitals across the United States vary almost 10-fold-from a low of 7.1% to a high of 69.96%.

A technique that bridges minimally invasive surgery and an open approach appears to have promise for challenging cases in laparoscopic myomectomy and hysterectomy, according to preliminary outcomes from a surgical series by investigators at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston.

Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) taken by a woman during pregnancy do not impact her infant's growth during the first year of life, reports a new small study.

Physicians should recommend that their patients plan for vaginal deliveries rather than cesarean deliveries if there are no maternal or fetal indications for a cesarean. This is the position stated in a new committee opinion from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) Committee on Obstetric Practice.

A physician and a malpractice attorney discuss the merits of ‘Apology and Disclosure’ programs and their role in obstetrical practice. Do they cut costs or create trouble?

An independent panel convened by the National Institutes of Health has concluded that there is insufficient evidence to adopt a 1-step approach to the diagnosis of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM).

The use of robotically assisted hysterectomy for women with benign gynecological disease offers little short-term benefit and has significantly greater costs than laparoscopic hysterectomy, according to the results of a large US cohort study.

In the nearly 40 years since the Yuzpe method was first described, options for emergency contraception-including over-the-counter availability-have expanded. Yet misunderstandings about these methods still exist.

This is an unusual case. Litigation doesn’t usually take decades, but this case went through multiple plaintiffs’ attorneys and sat quiet on the court’s docket until the court was clearing old cases and reexamined it.

Hysteroscopic removal of polyps in women with unexplained infertility may increase their chances of becoming pregnant, concludes an intervention review conducted by the Cochrane Menstrual Disorders and Subfertility Group.

A study in Sweden has shown that the incidence of genital warts (condylomata) declined by 93% in girls who received the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine before age 14. The study was carried out by researchers at Karolinska Institute in Sweden and published in Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

A study titled “Effect of Vitamin D Supplementation on Blood Pressure in Blacks” has shown that vitamin D supplementation significantly yet modestly lowered systolic blood pressure in a group of African Americans.

Postpartum depression is a problem for almost 1 out of every 7 women and nearly one-quarter of mothers are depressed at some point in the first year after delivery, according to a study in JAMA Psychiatry.

Hourglassing of membranes or prolapse of membranes through the internal os into the cervical canal is a difficult condition to manage, as it poses a high risk of rupture of membranes if rescue cerclage is attempted.

In patients with gestational diabetes mellitus, metformin is an effective alternative to insulin, according to the findings of a recent single-center randomized controlled study.

Patients with stage IVB, recurrent, or persistent cervical cancer that was not cured with standard treatment who were given the angiogenesis inhibitor bevacizumab lived 3.7 months longer than patients who did not receive the drug, but adverse events increased.

A study assessing the effectiveness of acetaminophen for neonatal pain relief found that use of acetaminophen shortly after birth may aggravate a subsequent stress response.

A study led by Contemporary OB/GYN Editorial Advisory Board member Haywood L. Brown, MD, has found that lack of seatbelt use during pregnancy is associated with an increased risk of fetal death. The study was published online by the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology on February 25, 2013.

Experts convened by the National Institutes of Health for a Consensus Development Conference on Diagnosing Gestational Diabetes Mellitus (GDM) have proposed maintaining the current 2-step approach to diagnosis rather than a 1-step process. The panel, comprising 15 experts and 19 speakers, met March 4-9 in Bethesda to examine a report prepared through the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality’s Evidence-based Practice Centers program. The assessment was sponsored by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development and the Office of Disease Prevention.

A meta-analysis of two Gynecologic Oncology Group (GOG) clinical trials shows a clear long-term survival benefit for intraperitoneal (IP) therapy over intravenous (IV) treatment of ovarian cancer. The results were presented at the 2013 Society of Gynecologic Oncology Annual Meeting on Women’s Cancer in Los Angeles.

There is no evidence that plastic adhesive surgical drapes reduce surgical site infection rates, and some evidence that these drapes may increase infection rates, according to a third update of an intervention review and analysis conducted by the Cochrane Wounds Group.

Vitamin D deficiencies are common in women with primary ovarian insufficiency (POI), and serum levels of zinc, copper, and vitamin D appear to correlate with hormonal status, concluded a recent cross-sectional, case-control study.

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) has issued a list of 5 procedures that may be overused by ob/gyns.

A survey of medical students and residents shows that gifts to them from pharmaceutical company representatives remain common, despite efforts by medical schools to restrict such transactions. The research, which included participants from every medical school in the United States, appears in the February issue of The Journal of General Internal Medicine.

A study has found that nearly 1 in 4 women (23%) newly diagnosed with breast cancer reported symptoms consistent with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) shortly after diagnosis. Black and Asian women were more likely to report such symptoms. The study, called “Racial Disparities in Posttraumatic Stress After Diagnosis of Localized Breast Cancer: The BQUAL Study,” has been published online ahead of print in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

In this first installment of Contemporary OB/GYN’s Point/Counterpoint department, two physicians discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the laborist (or “hospitalist”) model of care. What are the pros and cons for ob/gyns and their patients?