Australian & New Zealand Journal of Obstetrics & Gynaecology最新文献

Prenatal genomic sequencing, which can provide a significantly increased diagnostic rate for fetal structural anomaly (FSA) compared with karyotype and microarray, is not available uniformly across Australia. PreGen, a 5-year translational research program, has identified significant barriers to implementation including access to funding, the availability of genomic testing, access to termination of pregnancy services and the availability of specialist genomic centres. A federal item number for prenatal genomic testing would increase equitable test availability and reduce delays to diagnoses by making them in pregnancy whilst removing the need for low-yield diagnostic interventions and enabling personalised patient management and family support.

Barry Walters, a legend of Australian Obstetric Medicine, has died after a long incapacitating illness and a much shorter battle with the COVID-19 virus.

The elder son of jewellers, Wallace and Lucille Walters, Barry was born at St Vincent's Hospital, Melbourne: his father used to say, ‘he was born there because he wanted to be close to his mother’! Within 2 years, the family moved to Perth, which then became his home for the rest of his life. After winning a scholarship to Scotch College, he excelled in every subject and eventually became Dux of the school in 1967. He studied Medicine at the University of Western Australia (UWA) and, for most of the time, was the top student, including his final year, graduating with the AMA Gold Medal in 1974. His widow, Tamara, recalls her first memory of him at the first lecture of the year in the first year of medical school, ‘sitting with his rowdy friends right behind me, making wisecracks as I was trying to listen to the lectures. We didn't think very much of each other in those days. But the more time we spent together, the more I realized that he was the smartest man I had ever met. He was funny and made me laugh, and most of all, he was kind’.

After first thinking that he would like to do neurology, he then changed his mind to a career in paediatrics, with an initial job in neonatology at King Edward Memorial Hospital (KEMH), Subiaco. There he realised that there were many medical problems in obstetric patients that were not being well addressed, and he saw a need for a specialist obstetric physician in Perth. So he and Tamara headed over to England, where he worked first in Oxford for a year with one of the then two doyens of obstetric medicine, (the late) Chris Redman, and then for 2 years with the other, Michael de Swiet, at Queen Charlotte's Hospital in West London, home of the Institute of Obstetrics. During this time, he obtained his FRACP.

Returning to Perth, he initiated the obstetric medicine unit at KEMH, where he became Physician to the Diabetes service, although his interests were much broader than diabetes. He was available for medical advice in many obstetric crises, and many mothers (and their babies) owe their lives to his wise advice. He would drop everything to see a sick patient, often left picnics and parties, and would then not be seen for hours. Like his mentor, Chris Redman, Barry wanted to cure pre-eclampsia and had endless ideas about studies and research, writing and lecturing extensively on this, as well as other subjects. He was a founding member of the Obstetric Medicine Group of Australasia (OMGA) from its first meeting in Leonard's Mill, SA in 1992, and attended almost all the annual meetings on both sides of the Tasman. In 1998, he was appointed Clinical Associate Professor at UWA, and in 2003, was appointed Clinical Professor of Medicine at the newly opened medical school of the University of Notre Dame in Fremantle. Later, after the 2005 amalgamati

Background: In 2018 the Australian Government launched the world's first National Action Plan for Endometriosis (NAPE). Of its three priorities 'Priority 1' was 'Education and Awareness'. In response, the Pelvic Pain Foundation of Australia was funded to deliver their Periods, Pain and Endometriosis Program (PPEP) Talk to a proportion of Australian schools. Since then, PPEP Talk has been delivered to over 110,000 students.

Aims: This retrospective cross-sectional study investigated students assigned female at birth (AFAB) and the prevalence and impact of period and pelvic pain, interaction with health care services and knowledge of endometriosis.

Materials and methods: Multiple choice, pre and post PPEP Talk, paper survey responses between July 2022 and June 2023 were collected from 13,078 students AFAB.

Results: 52.6% of students reported regular severe period pain. 22.9% of students reported regularly missing school or work with their period. 21.5% of students had presented to a health professional for pain, and 5.7% had presented to an Emergency Department. 5.2% of students reported pelvic pain for more than 10 days per month. The prevalence and impact of period and pelvic pain varied across demographic variables. The proportion of students who knew what endometriosis was rose from 47.8% to 95.5% after the program.

Conclusions: The NAPE's objective to enhance education and awareness of endometriosis and period/pelvic pain was met. 100% of schools who received PPEP Talk want it to return. Wide discrepancies in the prevalence of pain within different demographics were identified, providing previously unknown data to improve and direct services.