WEDNESDAY, Nov. 4 (HealthDay News) — A vaccine that targets human papillomavirus (HPV) is able to stop precancerous lesions in the vulva from progressing into full-blown malignancies, Dutch researchers report.
Two other vaccines — Gardasil and Cervarix — have been approved for young women to prevent infection with HPV, which is also thought to spur precancerous lesions in the cervix and cause 70 percent of cervical cancers. Read More
MONDAY, Nov. 2 (HealthDay News) — In 2002 and 2003, screening guidelines for the cervical cancer-detecting Pap test were changed significantly, yet fewer than one-third of U.S. primary care physicians follow those guidelines, according to a recent study.
Many overprescribe the screen, telling researchers that they would recommend it to virgins (most cervical cancers arise from a sexually transmitted virus), women with inoperable cancers and even women who have had their cervix surgically removed. Read More
WEDNESDAY, Oct. 28 (HealthDay News) — Women undergoing a second round of in-vitro fertilization should get one embryo instead of two, suggests new Swedish research that found the first approach is almost as successful as the second and greatly reduces the risk of multiple births.
A previous study produced the same result, but this latest report examined the women for a longer period of time, through more embryo implantations. Read More
TUESDAY, Oct. 27 (HealthDay News) — Traditional Pap tests and the newer liquid-based cytology are equally reliable in screening for cervical cancer, a new study has found.
In the United States, liquid-based cytology testing has all but replaced the traditional Pap test, but in Europe the debate continues over which method is best, according to Dr. Mark Schiffman, a senior investigator at the U.S. National Cancer Institute, co-author of an editorial accompanying the study’s publication in the Oct. 28 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association. Read More
FRIDAY, Oct. 23 (HealthDay News) — There have been reports that injections of the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine are especially painful, but a new study finds that they don’t hurt more than any other shots.
Public health officials worried that reports of excess pain might prevent young women from getting the vaccine, which protects against a virus that can cause cervical cancer, some other kinds of cancer and genital warts. There was also concern that some women might not get all three required doses. Read More
THURSDAY, Oct. 22 (HealthDay News) — Doctors should prescribe oral phosphodiesterase type 5 (PDE-5) inhibitor drugs, such as Viagra, Cialis and Levitra, for men with erectile dysfunction, unless the patient is on nitrate therapy, according to a clinical practice guideline issued by the American College of Physicians.
The type of erectile dysfunction (ED) drug prescribed should be based on the individual preferences of patients, including cost of medication, ease of use and types of side effects, the authors noted. Read More
WEDNESDAY, Oct. 21 (HealthDay News) — A U.S. advisory panel on Wednesday voted against the routine use of the vaccine Gardasil in boys and men, but did leave individual doctors free to recommend the vaccine for males as an option.
Gardasil protects against four strains of the human papilloma virus (HPV), a sexually transmitted pathogen that is thought to cause 70 percent of cervical cancers. HPV has also been linked to rarer cancers of the throat, genitals and anus, as well as genital warts, and its use among males has been the subject of much debate since Gardasil first received FDA approval for use in females in 2006. Read More
TUESDAY, Oct. 20 (HealthDay News) — The full results of a landmark trial of an AIDS vaccine show that the shot did have limited success in protecting recipients from HIV.
But the study, published Tuesday in the New England Journal of Medicine, also suggests that this effect fades with time and may not work well for those at highest risk from HIV, such as people who engage in risky sexual practices or abuse intravenous drugs. Read More
MONDAY, Oct. 19 (HealthDay News) — The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Friday approved use of the cervical cancer vaccine Gardasil to prevent genital warts caused by human papillomavirus (HPV) types 6 and 11 in boys and men, ages 9 through 26.
Each year, about two of every 1,000 men in the United States are newly diagnosed with genital warts, the FDA said. Read More
FRIDAY, Oct. 16 (HealthDay News) — Women who become obese — a step above overweight — by the age of 18 are more likely to become infertile and develop polycystic ovarian syndrome than others, new research suggests.
These obese young women also less likely to become pregnant than women who become obese when they’re older, according to the results of a study of 1,538 patients who were undergoing bariatric surgery at clinics in the United States. The women completed surveys about their medical and sexual histories.
Overall, however, the women in the study, who ranged in age from 18 to 78 years, were as likely to have been pregnant and to have given birth to at least one live child as women in the general population. Seventy-nine percent of those who took part in the study had been pregnant at least once, and 74 percent had at least one live birth, the researchers found. Read More
