Maximum Effort in the Management of Ovarian Cancer, Including Pelvic and Para-aortic Lymphadenectomy

Patients treated for ovarian cancer at the Mercy Hospital for Women, Melbourne over a 5 1/2 year period were studied with an emphasis on the need for lymphadenectomy. There were 80 patients identified with ovarian cancer. Forty patients underwent pelvic and/or para-aortic lymphadenectomy and 25 (62.5%) were found to have lymph node metastases, in 7 of the 40 women the lymphadenectomy resulting in upstaging of the disease. FIGO has adopted a surgicopathological approach to the staging of ovarian cancer and this requires lymphadenectomy to be performed. The importance of accurate staging in clinically early ovarian cancer and maximum surgical effort in advanced disease is discussed with particular regard to the place of lymphadenectomy.     

Cervical Entrapment of a Polythene Vaginal Ring Pessary — a Clinical Curiosity

An extremely rare complication of cervical entrapment of a polythene ring pessary within an epithelial 'tunnel' of the cervix is reported. The pessary was removed by dividing a segment of it with bone cutting forceps.     

Inconsistent Evidence: Analysis of Six National Guidelines for Vaginal Birth After Cesarean Section

Abstract: Background: Guidelines are increasingly used to direct clinical practice, with the expectation that they improve clinical outcomes and minimize health care expenditure. Several national guidelines for vaginal birth after cesarean section (VBAC) have been released or updated recently, and their range has created dilemmas for clinicians and women. The purpose of this study was to summarize the recommendations of existing guidelines and assess their quality using a standardized and validated instrument to determine which guidelines, if any, are best able to guide clinical practice. Methods: English language guidelines on VBAC were purposively selected from national and professional organizations in the United Kingdom, United States, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia. The Appraisal of Guidelines for Research and Evaluation (AGREE) instrument was applied to each guideline, and each was analyzed to determine the range and level of evidence on which it was based and the recommendations made. Results: Six guidelines published or updated between 2004 and 2007 were examined. Only two of the six guidelines scored well overall using the AGREE instrument, and the evidence used demonstrated great variety. Most guidelines cited expert opinion and consensus as evidence for some recommendations. Reported success rates for VBAC ranged from 30 to 85 percent, and reported rates of uterine rupture ranged from 0 to 2.8 percent. Conclusions: VBAC guidelines are characterized by quasi‐experimental evidence and consensus‐based recommendations, which lead to wide variability in recommendations and undermine their usefulness in clinical practice. (BIRTH 37:1 March 2010)     

Medium-term Follow-up of the Intravaginal Slingplasty Operation Indicates Minimal Deterioration of Urinary Continence With Time

An assessment of the medium term efficacy of stress incontinence cure in a group of patients who had undergone the intravaginal slingplasty (IVS) operation is presented. Eighty-five unselected patients, aged 27 to 83 years at the time of surgery, 12 with pure stress symptoms, and 73 with mixed incontinence symptoms underwent the IVS procedure between 31 and 57 months previously (mean 3.9 years). The patients were assessed with the same self-administered semiquantitative questionnaire used in the initial assessment. The results were compared with the original cure rate which was 88% at 1.75 years with another 2.5% more than 70% improved (total 90.5%). The cure rate in the 75 patients assessed at 3.9 years was 81%, with another 8% reporting more than 70% improvement (total 89%). Included in the latter were 2 patients who, though originally designated as failures, gradually achieved almost 100% continence within 2 years of surgery. Deterioration of continence following the IVS operation appears more like the Burch colposuspension than needle suspensions. It is possible to explain deterioration of continence with time in terms of age-related connective tissue laxity of the vaginal hammock. Improvement in 2 women with time can be explained by tightening of the hammock via paraurethral scar contraction with time. Whether the IVS operation improves or deteriorates in the longer term may depend on which process predominates.