Estudios muestran la actitud de las mujeres ante la congelación “social” de sus ovocitos

Estudios sobre la actitud de las mujeres ante la congelación “social” de sus ovocitos indican que las mujeres trabajadoras anteponen su carrera a la maternidad, mientras que las mujeres más mayores siguen esperando al hombre ideal.

Roma, Italia – Las mujeres de diferentes edades tienen motivos distintos para desear congelar sus ovocitos, según indican dos estudios presentados hoy (lunes) ante la 26ª Conferencia Anual de la Sociedad Europea de Reproducción Humana y Embriología. Un gran número de estudiantes universitarias estarían dispuestas a someterse a la congelación de ovocitos en un intento por combinar el éxito profesional con la maternidad, dice la Dra. Srilatha Gorthi, investigadora del Centro de Medicina Reproductiva de Leeds, Reino Unido, y añade que los resultados de la investigación realizada por su equipo han subrayado la importancia de educar a las jóvenes sobre sus relojes biológicos de manera que puedan tomar decisiones informadas sobre su reproducción futura.

La Dra. Gorthi entrevistó a 98 estudiantes de medicina (grupo A) y a 97 estudiantes de educación y deporte (grupo B) de la Universidad de Leeds. Se les facilitó información sobre la congelación de ovocitos, incluido el hecho de que deberían financiar ellas mismas la congelación de sus ovocitos. El promedio de edad era de 21 años, con edades que iban de los 18 a los 30 años en ambos grupos. El 63,3% de las estudiantes de medicina no tenía una relación en ese momento, frente a un 25,8% del grupo B, lo cual probablemente refleje el nivel de compromiso y de tiempo necesario para cursar sus estudios respectivos.

Mientras que el 85,7% de las mujeres del grupo A afirmaron que estarían dispuestas a aplazar la formación de una familia, sólo un 49,5% del grupo B dijo que lo consideraría. Ocho de cada diez mujeres del grupo A dijeron que se someterían a la extracción y congelación de ovocitos, frente a sólo la mitad (cuatro de cada diez) del grupo B. En el grupo A, un 85,3% estaban dispuestas a someterse a hasta tres ciclos de extracción de ovocitos para conservar un número suficiente de ellos que les ofrezca una posibilidad realista de embarazo. En cambio, la mayoría (79%) de las mujeres del grupo B que conservarían sus ovocitos dijeron estar dispuestas a someterse solamente a un único
ciclo de extracción de ovocitos.

“Las razones profesionales fueron las más citadas para retrasar la creación de una familia en el grupo A, seguidas de la estabilidad financiera y el matrimonio o una relación estable,” dice la Dra. Gorthi. “Sin embargo, en el grupo B la estabilidad financiera fue la primera razón, seguida de una relación estable, y los motivos profesionales, en último lugar. Pensamos que es la primera vez que se han estudiado de ese modo las actitudes de las jóvenes ante la congelación de ovocitos.”

La congelación de ovocitos sigue siendo una tecnología relativamente nueva; la mujer se tiene que someter a un ciclo de tratamiento de FIV, que dura de dos a cuatro semanas y conlleva ciertos riesgos: hiperestimulación ovárica, hemorragia, infección, y posible, aunque reducido, efecto sobre la fertilidad natural futura.

Read the rest of this entry »

Studies show Women’s attitudes to social egg freezing

Studies of women’s attitudes to ‘social egg freezing’ find that young professionals put career ahead of motherhood, while older women are still waiting for Mr. Right

Rome, Italy – Women of different ages differ in their reasons for wishing to undergo egg freezing, show two studies presented to the 26th annual meeting of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology today (Monday). A large number of female university students would be prepared to undertake egg freezing in an attempt to combine career success and motherhood, said Dr. Srilatha Gorthi, a research fellow at the Leeds Centre for Reproductive Medicine, Leeds, UK, adding that her team’s research emphasised the importance of educating young women about their biological clocks in order that they could take informed decisions about future reproduction.

Dr. Gorthi surveyed 98 medical students (group A) and 97 students of education and sports studies (group B) from the University of Leeds. Information regarding egg freezing was provided, including the fact that they would have to finance their own egg freezing. The average age was 21 with age range from 18-30 years in both the groups; 63.3% of the medical students were not in a relationship, as opposed to 25.8% in group B, probably reflecting the level of commitment and time needed for their courses.

While 85.7% in group A said that they would be prepared to delay starting a family, only 49.5% in group B said they would consider this. Eight out of ten from group A said they would undergo egg collection and freezing, compared with only half as many (four out of ten) from group B. In group A, 85.3% were prepared to undergo up to three cycles of egg collection to bank enough eggs to give them a realistic chance of pregnancy. In contrast, the majority (79%) of those who would bank their eggs from group B said they would be prepared to undergo only one cycle of egg collection.

“Career considerations were given as the commonest reason to delay starting a family in group A, followed by financial stability and marriage or a stable relationship,” said Dr. Gorthi. “However, in group B, financial stability came first, followed by a stable relationship and then career reasons. We think that this is the first time that young women’s attitudes to egg freezing have been studied in this way.”

Egg freezing is still a relatively new technology; a woman has to go through an IVF treatment cycle, which takes two to four weeks and carries certain risks: ovarian hyperstimulation, haemorrhage, infection and a possible, albeit small, effect on future natural fertility. Read the rest of this entry »

Bariatric Surgery in Diabetic Adults Improves Insulin Sensitivity Better than Diet

San Diego, CA — Gastric bypass surgery improves Type 2 diabetes by other mechanisms in addition to weight loss and does so better than a low-calorie diet despite achieving equal weight loss, a new study finds. The results will be presented Monday at The Endocrine Society’s 92nd Annual Meeting in San Diego.

“Our study shows that in the short term, weight loss by diet alone does not achieve the same improvements in diabetes as gastric bypass surgery,” said the presenting author, Judith Korner, MD, PhD, assistant professor of medicine at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York.

Korner and her colleagues found that gastric bypass surgery better improved insulin sensitivity, the body’s ability to successfully clear glucose sugar from the bloodstream into the cells. Insulin sensitivity is impaired in people with Type 2 diabetes, and obesity adds to this problem. The result is a buildup of sugar in the blood.

The study compared the effects on diabetic adults of a low-calorie diet versus Roux-en-Y gastric bypass, the most common gastric bypass procedure. Roux-en-Y gastric bypass decreases the size of the stomach and reroutes the digestive tract to bypass most of the stomach and part of the small intestine. After gastric bypass, many diabetic patients achieve normal blood glucose control or vastly improved control, and some may no longer require diabetes medications.

In the study, seven obese patients with Type 2 diabetes received a daily 800-calorie liquid diet and no surgery, while seven other obese diabetic adults underwent gastric bypass surgery. The study ended when both groups lost the same amount of weight: an average of 8 percent of body weight. However, the surgery-treated patients lost the weight faster: in about 3.5 weeks compared with 8 weeks for the dieters.

Surgical patients were able to discontinue all of their diabetes medications by the study’s end, but the dieters reduced their medication use by 55 percent, Korner reported.

The researchers found significant improvements in the surgery group in measures of insulin sensitivity and function of beta cells, the insulin-producing cells in the pancreas. Improvements in insulin sensitivity in the low-calorie diet group were not statistically significant and beta cell function improved to a lesser extent.

Korner speculated that hormonal changes may be responsible for the improvements resulting from Roux-en-Y surgery in individuals with Type 2 diabetes.

“It will be important to understand how surgery works to produce these results so that we can develop medical therapies of equivalent efficacy,” she said.

The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases funded this study.

For information about bariatric surgery abroad please do not hesitate to contact Sublimis Argentina.

European regulations for cosmetic surgery to be introduced

British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons to Help Set Guidelines

London – After years of calling for tighter controls in cosmetic surgery in Britain, top UK surgeons are delighted to provide key input at a new committee in Brussels, so that Europe-wide standards can finally be introduced in this sector. The President of the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons (baaps.org.uk), the not-for-profit organisation established for the advancement of education and practice of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery for public benefit, has been invited to participate in the creation of these cutting-edge regulations.

The market of aesthetic procedures – known generally as cosmetic surgery, though it involves non-surgical treatments – has increased dramatically over the last years, including through the recession. The growing availability of travel, the Web and numerous financial payment facilities also mean that medical tourism in this area has also become a reality.

The CEN – the European Committee for Standardisation – has recently accepted the proposal from the Austrian Standards Institute (ASI) to create a new Project Committee, CEN/TC 403 “Project Committee- Aesthetic surgery services”, the aim of which is to elaborate European standards for aesthetic surgery services.  Other organisations involved include in this project include the Care Quality Commission, the Royal College of Ophthalmologists and the British Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons.

Prompt Gallbladder Removal in Elderly Associated with Increased Survival, Lower Costs

New Research Findings in Journal of the American College of Surgeons Show Patients Not Treated during Initial Hospitalization Required Re-admission within Two Years

Chicago – New research findings published in the May issue of the Journal of the American College of Surgeons indicate that delaying cholecystectomy, the surgical removal of the gallbladder, in elderly patients with sudden inflammation of the organ often results in increased costs, morbidity and mortality.

Gallstone disease is the most costly digestive disease in the United States, with approximately 20 million people having the disorder.  Annually, gallstone disease leads to more than one million hospitalizations, 700,000 operative procedures, and a cost of $5 billion. Furthermore, the prevalence of gallstones increases with age: 15 percent of men and 24 percent of women will have gallstones by age 70. As well, complications related to gallstones are more common in elderly patients, with the most common being acute cholecystitis, a sudden inflammation of the gallbladder, which can cause abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, and fever.

Between 1996 and 2005, 29,818 Medicare beneficiaries were admitted to acute care facilities for a first episode of acute cholecystitis. Of these patients, 75 percent (n=22,367) underwent cholecystectomy. The inpatient mortality rate was 2.7 percent in patients who did not undergo cholecystectomy, and 2.1 percent in patients who did (p = 0.001).

For the 25 percent of patients (n=7,451) who did not undergo cholecystectomy upon first hospitalization, 38 percent required gallstone related re-admission over the subsequent two years, compared to only four percent in patients who did undergo the surgery (P<0.0001). Twenty-seven percent of patients who did not undergo definitive therapy (gallbladder removal) required subsequent cholecystectomy, often not performed electively, but associated with acute care re-admission. The gallstone-related readmissions were expensive for Medicare, leading to approximately $14,000 in total charges and greater than $7,000 in Medicare payments per readmission.

Additionally, patients who did not undergo cholecystectomy during initial hospitalization were 56 percent more likely to die two years after hospitalization discharge versus those who received immediate treatment (HR 1.56, 95 percent CI 1.47 to 1.65), even after controlling for patient demographics and comorbidities.

Source: American College of Surgeons

If you are interested in having a cholecystectomy abroad please don’t hesitate to contact Sublimis.