Zentralblatt fur Gynakologie最新文献

Objective: It is not always possible to clearly differentiate the symptoms of overactive bladder and interstitial cystitis. A prospective randomized study was performed to determine whether instillation of sodium chondroitin sulphate for treatment of interstitial cystitis is also effective in treating overactive bladder. The expected benefit of this therapeutic approach in overactive bladder is based on the assumption that the glycosaminoglycan layer may be damaged in overactive bladder as well.

Material and methods: Patients with chronic overactive bladder were randomized to one of two study groups each including 41 patients. Group A was treated with an anticholinergic agent (tolterodine), group B with sodium chondroitin sulphate (Uropol S). The diagnosis was established on the basis of a gynecologic examination and history, urodynamic testing, introital ultrasound, and cystoscopy. Patients were treated for 12 months.

Results: An improvement of symptoms was reported by 15/35 (43 %) of the patients in group A (p = 0.000) as compared with 23/32 (72 %) of the patients in group B. The subjective outcome was corroborated by means of urodynamic testing, number of pads used, voiding frequency, and nycturia (voiding diary). Quality of life increased significantly in both groups in the course of treatment but there was no significant difference between both groups.

Conclusion: The results of the study presented here suggest that restoring the glycosaminoglycan layer also improves or cures the symptoms in patients with overactive bladder. Patients clearly benefit from instillation of sodium chondroitin sulphate. These results must be confirmed in larger studies before a wider use of this therapeutic option can be recommended.

Ovarian pregnancies represent a small fraction of ectopic gestations. They are especially feared due to their life-threatening intraabdominal hemorrhage. Pre- and intraoperative diagnosis is difficult. Pathogenetically ovarian pregnancy arises from the retention of a fertilized ovum in the ovary. General guidelines for the medical management are missing. In this case report, we diagnosed a subacute ruptured ovarian pregnancy during surgery and performed a partial ovarectomy via operative laparoscopy. Other therapeutic options in managing ovarian ectopic pregnancy will be discussed.

Introduction: Obstetric and diabetic societies recommend an intensive care of pregnancies in women with pregestational diabetes, an early hospitalization in case of obstetric and internal complications as well as delivery in a perinatal center.

Objective: To evaluate the number and duration of hospitalization of pregnant women with pregestational diabetes in comparison with non-diabetic women and further more the type of clinics in which both groups were delivered. We also investigated if there were any differences in anamnestic risk factors in correlation with the type of hospital.

Material and methods: The data of the Perinatal Registry of Lower Saxony, Germany, between 1990 and 1999 were analyzed retrospectively. The pregnancies of 2 543 women with pregestational diabetes were compared with the pregnancies of 707 695 non-diabetic women.

Results: There was at least one admission to hospital in 40 % of diabetic and 18.6 % of non diabetic women and more than one admission in 11.9 and 3.6 %, respectively (p < 0.001). The number and duration of hospitalization in both groups decreased significantly within the observation period. 57.7 % of all hospitals performed 1 to 4 and 11 % of the hospitals 5 to 9 deliveries of diabetic women per year. In the group of pregnant women with pregestational diabetes 45 % were delivered in clinics with 1 to 4 and 26.4 % in clinics with 5 to 9 deliveries of diabetic women per year.

Conclusions: A higher number and duration of hospitalization was observed in the diabetic group, but both decreased significantly in each group during the observation period. No significant trend for delivering diabetic women in specialized high-risk units could be detected.

Objective: Cervical cancer screening guidelines stated recently that the screening interval of healthy women can be extended up to 3 years. Can those recommendations be applied for high risk populations?

Material and methods: In a prospective setting 305 HIV-positive women have been enrolled in this analysis between September 2000 and December 2003. Patients have been characterized according to HPV (human papilloma virus) prevalence, CIN (cervical intraepithelial neoplasia) incidence and CD4 cell count.

Results: 41 % of all HIV-positive women were HPV positive (oncogene subtypes). In patients with diminished CD4 cells the HPV prevalence increased to 60 % (54/90). CIN was found in 27 % (83/305) women. CIN was more frequent by HPV-positive women with a CD4 cell count < 200 mm (3) (52 %, 38/72). The CIN incidence was also high in HIV-positive women with negative HPV infection and diminished CD4 cell count (39 %, 7/18 vs.7 %, 11/161).

Conclusions: The current cervical cancer screening guidelines are not helpful in HIV-positive women. The CIN incidence is significantly higher as in the HIV-positive population. For this reason this high risk population as e. g. HIV-infected women need an intensive care of diagnostic tools and short screening intervals to detect CIN.

Unlabelled: Carcinoma of the vagina is a rare entity of cancer, also a primary carcinoma of the neovagina in patients with vaginal agenesia is of rare occurrence.

Case report: We report on a 48-year-old female patient with a squamous cell carcinoma in neovagina after Mayer-Rokitansky-Kuester-Hauser-syndrome. Neovagina was constructed by method of Vecchietti 28 years before. Operative treatment consisted of anterior exenteration with construction of a modified Mainz-1-pouch. There were no complications intra- or postoperative. Microscopic findings showed a G2-differentiated invasive squamous cell carcinoma of the neovagina at stage FIGO III with an infiltration of urethra and the bladder neck. The tumor could be resected completely, no infestation of lymph nodes was observed. In the further process the aftercare is planned. In a systematic literature review 19 female patients with a primary carcinoma of neovagina after agenesia of vagina could be identified.

Conclusions: Female patients with a neovagina require a regular gynaecologic examination in order not to survey a malignant transformation although a malignoma in neovagina is rare. A possible therapy option is the radical operation, there are no data of long-term prognosis at present.

Ancient societies recognised beneficial effects of certain fly larvae on wound healing. Nowadays, biosurgery with living maggots has proven very useful in the therapy of infected, necrotic, acute and chronic wounds. The larvae cause a rapid and selective wound debridement, a disinfective effect and rapid formation of granulation tissue and epithelium. In our hospital, we gathered experience in wounds caused by gynecological surgery. Here, maggot therapy has been used in locations--e. g. perineal--which are difficult to provide with hydrocolloid wound dressings. Maggots can clear wounds of staphylococci and streptococci populations, are successful in wounds caused by radiation therapy and can be used after chemotherapy. Patient acceptance is very high and psychological stress has been rare. Maggot therapy is a cheap, safe and highly effective treatment of wounds. Therefore, we want to encourage the use of biosurgery in suitable wounds.

Endometrial carcinoma is the most common malignant tumor of the female genital tract. The major non-invasive diagnostic method is ultrasound. Endometrial thickness (double layer) is measured by transvaginal sonography. The cut-off value in patients with postmenopausal bleeding is still controversial, although in patients with endometrial thickness below 4 mm (or 5 mm respectively), malignancy can be excluded with high probability. If the endometrium measures more than 4 mm (or more than 5 mm respectively) or the patient presents with continuous bleeding, hysteroscopy and curettage should be performed in order to obtain histologic diagnosis. Sonographic findings like structure and demarcation of the endometrium increase diagnostic specificity only when combined with the measurement of endometrial thickness. Measuring the fluid within the uterine cavity does not seem to be useful in differentiating malignant from benign disorders. The extent of surgery depends on the preoperative estimation of the tumor stage which is particularly important for elder patients with increased morbidity. Transvaginal sonography has not been widely accepted to predict the depth of myometrial invasion or cervical infiltration. Although promising studies exist, additional examinations have to be done in order to determine the role of transvaginal sonography beside other methods (CT, MRT). This article on transvaginal ultrasound reviews current data on the method's capacity to identify endometrial cancer and to diagnose the depth of invasion.

This years ASCO-meeting reinforced the trend of the recent years to get off from empirical treatment concepts to tailored and individualized diagnostics and therapy. However, the basis for an individual therapy is a specific molecular diagnostic which can be reflected in the analysis of hormonal receptor, HER-1, HER-2 and topoisomerase IIalpha in breast cancer. All these markers are not only able to prognosticate the course of disease but they also can predict the success of specific treatment approaches. Trastuzumab is standard therapy in HER-2 positive breast cancer both in the adjuvant and palliative setting. But new therapeutic agents, as e. g. lapatinib, are promising in the treatment of HER-2 positive breast cancer even if trastuzumab is failing. Otherwise it might possibly be an alternative option but adequate clinical results have to be awaited. The targeted inactivation of EGFR-related signal transduction pathways by e. g. gefitinib did not show a substantial improvement neither as a single agent nor in combination with endocrine treatment. However, the appropriate subgroup which might benefit from this therapy has to be defined even if molecular data suggest that patients with ER positive and PR negative breast cancer might be such a group. The increasing knowledge in terms of the biology of bone metastasis led to the development of new treatment options as e. g. denosumab, a humanized monoclonal antibody for RANK ligand. Two adjuvant cytotoxic treatment trials revealed that taxanes improve the prognosis of node positive breast cancer and should be administered sequentially. The advantage of switching to an aromatase inhibitor after two to three years of tamoxifen in endocrine treatment of postmenopausal patients is proved by two clinical trials (IES, ARNO) which could demonstrate a survival benefit. In conclusion it seems to be evident that new targeted therapy options are effective and will set new standards for the treatment of breast cancer patients in the near future. The presentation for the ovarian cancer focused on the addition of a third cytotoxic agent to carboplatin and paclitaxel as the standard therapy for the primary treatment of ovarian cancer. New data of Bevacizumab in the treatment of primary and recurrent ovarian cancer were presented. However, this is not yet a standard treatment for all patients and needs further investigations within large, multicentre, randomised trials. The lymphonodectomy as part of the primary therapy of the endometrial cancer seems to be a benefit at least in patients with advanced disease or high risk stage I tumours. The adjuvant therapy of uterine sarcomas is still not yet very well investigated and clear. A trial which recruited 12 years demonstrated a benefit in overall survival which has to be interpreted with caution. In this year again there have been registered an increasing number of interesting contributions from Germany, which also received international attention.

In the last decade progress in gynecological oncology has been achieved mainly by new cytotoxic drugs and advances in radiation technology. For example, the use of taxanes in the primary therapy of ovarian cancers and of combined radio-chemotherapy in cervical cancer has led to significant prolongations of survival. However, in case of relapse most gynaecological malignancies are associated with very poor prognosis. Efficacy of local and systemic therapy can be increased by combining radiotherapy and/or chemotherapy with locoregional hyperthermia (LRH). Increasing the temperature of the target tissue up to 41-43 degrees C leads to local hyperaemia and the tumor tissue becomes more responsive to cytotoxic interventions. In several prospective randomized studies the combination between LRH and radiotherapy was superior to radiotherapy alone in terms of local control (e. g. chest wall recurrence in breast cancer) and has led to longer overall survival in advanced cervical cancer. Platinum derivatives and other cytotoxic drugs have shown synergistic effects with LRH and the combination of both has elicited high response rates in recurrent cervical cancer. In phase-II-clinical trials the newly developed liposomal anthracyclines demonstrated synergistic effects with LRH in patients with refractory ovarian cancer. Our own experience has shown that adding LRH to radio- and/or chemotherapy is well tolerated by the patients. Despite of the fact, that the available data are still preliminary, the inclusion of LRH into multimodal cancer therapy concepts appears to be very promising. Well-designed comparative studies are still needed to evaluate the role of hyperthermia as an adjunct to conventional cancer therapy.