Fallopian Tubes

What springs to mind when Fallopian tubes are mentioned?  That they “connect” the ovaries to the uterus which leads finally to the vagina and the outside of the body?  Perhaps you think about ectopic pregnancies, as most ectopic pregnancies are indeed “tubal” pregnancies.  Whatever you may think of when Fallopian tubes are brought up, they [...]

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Quick Update

I live! Yes, I have been absenting myself from the blog, but for a good reason. I needed to concentrate on school until the end of the semester. I am within hours of finishing this semester, and had planned to return with a bang. Yet, I saw this article just now [...]

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The First Oophorectomy

Having had an oophorectomy, I am incredibly interested in the surgical removal of ovaries.  Removal of one ovary is called a unilateral oophorectomy; removal of both is bilateral.  Usually, when an ovary is removed, the fallopian tube associated with it is also removed.  This is called a salpingo-oophorectomy.  My interest usually lies in new surgical [...]

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Crabs: What Are They?

In school growing up there were numerous crab jokes made by my classmates.  If we wanted to give the ultimate insult we would say, “S/he’s got crabs.”  Of course, we didn’t really know what crabs were.  We knew vaguely they were something one acquired in the genital region generally from a sexual encounter and are [...]

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Introduction to the Cervix

The word cervix has only recently come to refer almost exclusively to the portion of the uterus that narrows between the vagina and the body of the uterus (corpus uteri). Cervix is from the Latin for “neck” and uterus is from the Latin for “womb.” Thus, the cervix is the neck [...]

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History of the Pap Smear

Let’s talk about how Pap smears got to where they are today. A lot of people never consider the name of the test and where it originates. Even ones who do think about the name assume Pap smears have something to do with human “PAP”illoma virus, or other such gynecological term contain the [...]

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Oncofertility: A Budding Field

So, another topic brought up by my time at the bioethics conference in Cleveland:  oncofertility.  I had often thought about this very idea, but didn’t realize there was a field, the name coined of 2006, addressing just this.  Basically, it is what its name indicates–fertility options for persons with cancer.  De facto, it addresses women’s [...]

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Is Milk Really That Good for You?

After recently spending four days in Cleveland at a bioethics conference I came away with several new, and renewed, perspectives on women’s health issues.  The first that comes to mind is something that my roommate, another bioethics graduate student, and I discussed.  That is early menarche in females.
Now, a little personal background:  I was one [...]

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