DeceMBeR 2011
www.THeoBgynnuRse.coM
Vol 3, no 6
ASRM ANNUAL MEETING
CLINIC PROFILE
Innovation and Intimacy at Main line Fertility center Interview with Sharon H. Anderson, PhD, HCLD; Michael J. Glassner, MD; and John J. Orris, DO, MBA Main Line Fertility Center, Bryn Mawr, PA
Personhood Amendment Fails in Mississippi, but the Heat still on in other states By Wayne Kuznar
Orlando, FL—Personhood legislation or amendments to state constitutions, which would establish legal personhood beginning at any stage of fetal development, remain a threat to reproductive health, believes the National Infertility Association (RESOLVE) and the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM). Such amendments are clearly intended to outlaw abortion but have the potential to affect assisted reproductive technology, said Barbara Collura, execu-
tive director of RESOLVE, at a press conference during the ASRM’s 2011 annual meeting (3 weeks before the Mississippi vote). Although a ballot measure to amend the Mississippi state constitution that life begins at fertilization (known as Initiative 26) recently failed, the main proponent of the measure, Personhood USA, is pushing similar ballot initiatives in 2012 and beyond in other states. Similar initiatives have failed at the polls twice in Colorado. Continued on page 5
From left: William H. Pfeffer, MD; John J. Orris, DO, MBA; and Michael J. Glassner, MD; Main Line Fertility Center.
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ain Line Fertility Center has been serving the needs of men and women requiring fertility services in Philadelphia and its surrounding area for more than 20 years, with a commitment to providing the most up-to-date fertility techniques and innovations in patient care and preserving the patient–clinician intimate
interaction. Infertility & Reproductive News asked Drs Anderson, Glassner, and Orris to describe their approach to infertility care.
Q: What motivated you to open your fertility center? We founded our center in November 1998 to pursue our commitment to Continued on page 9
new eggs for old?
Coenzyme Q10 May Boost Quality of Older Women’s Oocytes By Rosemary Frei, MSc
Toronto, Canada—The reproductive world is abuzz about research being conducted in Toronto that shows eggs from older women can perhaps be rejuvenated. Studies presented at the 2011 Canadian Fertility and Andrology Society annual meeting indicate that administering coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) to 1-
year-old mice—the equivalent of women in their 40s—for 3 or 4 months significantly increases the number of ovulated oocytes and the number of successful pregnancies. The same team, from the University of Toronto and the Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute of Mount Sinai Continued on page 8
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Tranexamic Acid Reduces Heavy Menstrual Bleeding Sleep Interruptions Are Also Reduced By Caroline Helwick
Washington, DC—Menorrhagia was effectively treated, and the effects were durable, in women who received oral tranexamic acid (TA) treatment in a phase 3, randomized, double-blind clinical trial reported at the ACOG 2011 annual meeting. In a separate analysis of this study also presented at the meeting, the drug significantly reduced sleep interruptions in these women. TA is a competitive plasmin inhibitor thought to reduce the excessive fibrino-
lysis in the endometrium of women with heavy menstrual bleeding. The drug is the only oral nonhormonal prescription medication that is US Food and Drug Administration–approved specifically for menorrhagia. “TA is an effective option for women with heavy menstrual bleeding,” said David Archer, MD, of Eastern Virginia Medical School in Norfolk. “The drug significantly reduced menstrual blood loss in this study.” The multicenter US study included Continued on page 7
INS IDE ASRM ANNUAL MEETING
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INFERTILITY UPDATES
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Are your IVF patients following their lifestyle instructions?
Should obesity be a barrier to fertility treatment?
Vaginal progesterone as effective as IM progesterone
Competing PDG technologies presented at infertility meeting
Women of childbearing age lacking fertility knowledge
Primary ovarian insufficiency still often neglected
ART nurses’ practices fraught with interruptions
WOMEN’S HEALTH
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LEGAL UPDATE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Breastfeeding important in childhood cancer survivors
Mississippi Initiative 26: implications for reproductive health
Advantage shown for collaborative physician/midwifery OB program
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