FDA approves a bedside test for assessing the risk of spontaneous preterm birth
QIAGEN won FDA approval for marketing its Novel PartoSure® point of care test for estimating the risk of spontaneous preterm birth in patients who present with symptoms of preterm labor. PartoSure represents a breakthrough in research and development of diagnostic tests for preterm birth.
Predicting preterm birth is a diagnostic challenge and nearly 85% of patients admitted to the hospital for threatened preterm labor (PTL) do not deliver within the next 7 days, resulting in unnecessary interventions.
Medical management of adenomyosis: current and future therapies
The current issue of Journal of Fertility and Sterility has focused exclusively on etiology, pathophysiology, and medical and surgical treatment of adenomyosis. Adenomyosis has long been the source of controversy and its only with the recent advent of Transvaginal sonography (TVS) and MRI that its etiology and pathophysiology been better understood.
Adenomyosis is a uterine pathology in which the endometrial glands and stroma invaginate within the uterine myometrium. This ectopic endometrium induces hypertrophy and hyperplasia of the myometrium resulting in the typical ‘globular” enlargement of the uterus.
Significant rise in hysterectomy complications observed following the FDA’s warning against power morcellator
A significant increase in major and minor complications following hysterectomy was noted in a large retrospective cohort study that was conducted after the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) warned against the use of laparoscopic power morcellation during a hysterectomy in November 2014.
The study was published today April 11 in JAMA Surgery.
The warning was issued because of fear of dissemination of undiagnosed occult leiomyosarcoma in the benign fibroid mass.
Addition of 24-chromosome microarray analysis to standard testing identifies a probable or definitive cause in over 90% of recurrent miscarriages
The new method of 24 Chromosome Microarray, or comprehensive chromosomal screening when added to the standard Recurrent Pregnancy Loss (RPL) evaluation of American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) could provide a probable or definitive cause in over 90% of patients reports the result of a small prospective cohort study published 1 April 2018 in Journal of Human Reproduction.
In the absence of definitive etiologies and treatment strategies, RPL is one of the most frustrating and difficult to treat entity in reproductive medicine. It affects 2%-5% of couples and a cause can be found only in 50% of the couples after undergoing the standard ASRM workup.
A novel, single-use Foley’s catheter fixation device protects from accidental removal and trauma
Indwelling urinary catheters are very commonly used for inpatients in hospitals and people confined to bed in hospice and nursing homes. It is estimated that 25% of hospitalized patients have catheters placed during their hospital stay.
They are also associated with Urinary Tract Infections (UTI) and account for 70-80% of iatrogenic UTI in hospital and inpatient settings. But, genitourinary trauma is also common because of the inflated balloon during accidental pulling of Foley’s catheter.
