The Relationship between Total Fibroid Burden and First Trimester Bleeding and Pain.

BACKGROUND: Few studies comment on the association between fibroids and symptoms among pregnant women. These studies generally are retrospective and do not to assess the influence of number of tumours or their volume on risk of symptoms. METHODS: Right from the Start is a prospective cohort that enrolled pregnant women from the southeastern USA between 2000 and 2012. In the first trimester, all participants had standardised ultrasounds to determine the presence or absence of fibroids. Symptoms were queried in a telephone survey. We used polytomous logistic regression to model odds of bleeding, pain, or both symptoms in relation to increasing total fibroid number and volume among white and black women. RESULTS: Among 4509 participants, the prevalence of fibroids was 11%. Among those reporting symptoms (70%), 11% reported only bleeding, 59% reported only pain, and 30% reported both symptoms. After adjusting for age, race, parity, hypertension, smoking, alcohol use, and study site, increasing number of fibroids was associated with pain [odds ratio (OR) 1.16, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.00, 1.33] and both symptoms [OR 1.25, 95% CI 1.08, 1.45] but not with bleeding among all women. Fibroid volume was not associated with symptoms among black women, but white women with the smallest fibroid volumes were more likely to report both symptoms than those without fibroids [OR 1.79, 95% CI 1.17, 2.72]. CONCLUSIONS: Very large tumours are not requisite for experiencing symptoms, as small fibroids and increasing number of tumours are associated with pain and both symptoms.

Concepts of holism in orthodox and alternative medicine.

In this essay the nature of holism in orthodox and alternative medicine will be explored and the true meaning of the words will be illustrated with a complicated case history concerning the life or death of a young pregnant mother suffering from a BRCA type breast cancer. Holism in medicine is an open-ended and exquisitely complex understanding of human biology that over time has led to spectacular improvements in the length and quality of life of patients with cancer and that this approach encourages us to consider the transcendental as much as the cell and molecular biology of the human organism. 'Alternative' versions of holism are arid and closed belief systems, locked in a time warp, incapable of making progress yet quick to deny it in the field of scientific medicine.

Management of patients with pregnancy-associated gastric cancer in Japan: a mini-review.

Gastric cancer associated with pregnancy is quite rare, and is most often diagnosed at an advanced stage. Furthermore, physicians are confronted with two conflicting issues in this condition: the need for early treatment of the maternal gastric cancer and the continuation of the pregnancy. To clarify the characteristics of pregnancy-associated gastric cancer and to obtain useful information that would help us choose the best treatment strategy for pregnancy-associated gastric cancer, we reviewed the existing literature, using the key words "pregnancy" and "gastric cancer". We were able to accumulate 136 cases, including 100 cases reported previously in Japan, and 1 case that we report here. We analyzed a total of 137 cases in the present study. With respect to the stage of gastric cancer, 92.5% of the patients studied had advanced gastric cancer, and only 45.3% of the patients underwent gastrectomy, including incomplete resection. Accordingly, the prognosis was very poor; the 1- and 2-year survival rates were 18.0% and 15.1%, respectively. However, the number of patients found to have early gastric cancer by endoscopic examination has been increasing recently. An endoscopic examination should be conducted immediately in pregnant patients presenting with persistent gastrointestinal symptoms for the differential diagnosis of hyperemesis gravidarum. When an endoscopic examination reveals that pregnant patients have gastric cancer, a therapeutic plan should be promptly formulated, in accordance with the number of weeks of gestation, by a medical team consisting of specialists in perinatal obstetrics and gastric cancer specialists.

Overall survival from breast cancer in women pregnant or lactating at or after diagnosis. Auckland Breast Cancer Study Group.

The effect of concurrent or subsequent pregnancy or lactation has been studied in women with breast cancer to determine if these variables influence prognosis. Information was collected from 382 women potentially capable of bearing children, aged less than 45 years, in the Auckland Breast Cancer Study Group data file, a consecutive series of women diagnosed with breast cancer from 1976 to 1985, with a median follow-up of 10.2 years. The prevalence of both pregnancy at diagnosis and lactation at diagnosis was 2.6%. The incidence of pregnancy subsequent to diagnosis was 3.9%. Women pregnant at the time of breast cancer diagnosis had significantly more advanced disease than non-pregnant patients, and there was a similar trend for women lactating at diagnosis. Overall survival in these women was poor compared with the non-pregnant and non-lactating groups; only 2 of 10 pregnant patients and 0 of 10 lactating patients survived more than 12 years. The adverse outcome for women lactating at diagnosis of their breast cancer persisted despite allowance for nodal status, tumour size and age. However, survival was similar between pregnant and non-pregnant patients when these variables were taken into account. No significant differences in survival were found between those women who had pregnancies subsequent to diagnosis of breast cancer and breast cancer patients who did not become pregnant.

Adnexal masses in pregnancy: occurrence by ethnic group.

Two hundred twenty-eight adnexal masses during pregnancy were discovered among 37,159 deliveries occurring between January 1, 1983 and October 31, 1988 at Kapiolani Medical Center for Women and Children in Honolulu. Hydatid cysts of morgagni (45.6%) occurred most frequently, followed by benign cystic teratomas (15.8%), epithelial cystadenomas (15.4%), and paraovarian cysts (13.6%). There were no malignant or borderline tumors. The patients were categorized as 22.1% part Hawaiian, 18.5% white, 17% Filipino, and 16% Japanese. We demonstrated an increased incidence of benign cystic teratomas in Filipinas (P less than .01). There was no significant predisposition for the occurrence of non-neoplastic or other neoplastic lesions among any of the other ethnic groups studied.