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Preterm Birth. Reasons and Risks

November is prematurity awareness month, and I felt the need to shed the light on its importance from an obstetric instead of a neonatal point of view, but before talking about preterm births, let us define a “full term pregnancy”. A full term pregnancy means a pregnancy ending at or after 40 weeks of gestation, and this number is calculated from a preset due date. But how is this date even set? In the setting of a spontaneous pregnancy, a due date is either calculated from the date of last menstrual period (using Naegele’s formula) or based on the baby’s measurements on ultrasound during early pregnancy. The latter method is becoming the norm now (especially in eminent centers around the world), because the date of the last menstrual period is not helpful in dating a pregnancy in women with late ovulations or irregular cycles. In the setting of a pregnancy following in vitro fertilization, the dating depends on the embryo transfer date and the age of the embryo at the time of the t...
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Breast Cancer; A month in its name

October is breast cancer awareness month! During this time period many nonprofit organizations, hospitals, healthcare workers, celebrities and social media tend to promote for breast cancer awareness and to shed the light on the value of earlier detection and treatment? This propaganda indirectly hints on the importance of this disease and the value of its awareness. How scientifically true is that? How common is Breast Cancer? Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer worldwide (after non-melanomatous skin cancers) with a woman’s lifetime risk for developing breast cancer of 12%. This means that 1 in 8 women will develop breast cancer during their lifetime. This high incidence is similar across all countries (with minimal differences), and across different cultures and ethnicities. Nowadays, almost every person knows someone who was diagnosed with breast cancer, and with time, every family is expected to witness such a disease. What are the risk factors for develop...
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Gynecologic Cancers. Risks, screening and prevention

In 1999, the Foundation for Women’s Cancer set September as the Gynecologic Cancer Awareness month, with the aim to acknowledge the importance of women’s health and to shed the light on the different gynecologic cancers, their risk factors and ways to screen for and manage them. Even though, the topic of cancers or malignancies can be regarded as sensitive by some, yet I believe that I have a professional and personal duty to talk more about the different types of gynecologic malignancies as many misconceptions surround the topic. There are 5 main cancers that are encountered by gynecology specialists; cervical, ovarian, endometrial, vulvar and vaginal cancers, however, in this article I will be tackling the most commonly seen ones; cervical, ovarian and endometrial. Cervical Cancer Cervical cancer happens when cells in your cervix (the bottom part of the uterus) start to grow out of control. It is the most common gynecologic malignancy in underdeveloped countries and one of th...
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IUD. Effective, Reversible, Long Acting!

Birth control methods have always intrigued people, and the ability to control one’s fertility has been the desire of different populations. Some old civilizations used honey, stones, acacia leaves and lint to be inserted in the vaginas to prevent sperm migration into the uterine cavity, while others relied on prayers and more spiritual methods to prevent unwanted pregnancies. Many ancient documents talk about birth control methods, including the Ebers Papyrus and Kahun Papyrus.  In this article, I will be focusing on one form of contraception known as the intrauterine contraceptive method. Intrauterine devices (IUD) are considered one of the most effective contraceptive methods we have nowadays. They belong to a group of contraceptives called LARCs or long acting reversible contraceptives. Generally speaking, IUDs are considered to be safe, cost effective, reversible and easily accessible, however, what is the actual effectiveness and safety of these devices? And are there any n...
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Plan B. Is it Guaranteed?

Condom companies tend to portray a 98 to 99% efficacy of their products; however, many studies have shown that this tremendous contraceptive efficacy is only seen with the perfect use of condoms. This “ perfect use ” does not account for the human error, and thus the actual failure rate of condoms with “ typical use ” can be as high as 18 to 20%. But why does this efficacy dramatically differ between “perfect” and “typical” uses?  Studies have shown that condoms  break  in up to 33%,  slip  in around 15% and  leak  in up to 7% of cases. These failure rates were secondary to improper storage or use of condoms, including adding the wrong kind of lubricants that some were shown to damage latex.  In addition to the above-mentioned condoms failures, sometimes you feel caught in the moment and engage in unprotected intercourse for a more pleasurable experience. Moreover, some women might unfortunately face unconsented coerced unprotected sexual interc...
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Infertility. Why me ?

The famous Aphrodite and Venus were considered to be the Goddesses of fertility in the Greek and Roman mythologies respectively. Actually, tens of other fertility Gods and Goddesses have been described across different civilizations and historically couples used to pray for their respective deities in hope of conceiving. Today, after thousands of years some people still hold superstitions concerning a woman’s fertility, and women tend to be blamed for not being able to conceive! This belief of a woman’s hostile environment standing in the way of natural conception is still being portrayed in some parts of our current “modern” world. Infertility is commonly seen nowadays, and it has been shown to be linked to psychological, economic and medical burdens. Couples tend to seek fertility counseling much more often than before, and this is mostly secondary to their understanding that infertility is not something to be ashamed of, it has solutions and it should be handled by specialists. T...
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