Canadian family physician Medecin de famille canadien

OBJECTIVE: To present health care providers with an inclusive, evidence-based framework to identify patients who may benefit from lubricant use during sexual activity, and assist patients in selecting a lubricant tailored to their specific …

OBJECTIVE: To provide a practical guide to help family physicians recognize, diagnose, and manage patients with pelvic venous disorders (PeVDs), often overlooked as causes of chronic pelvic pain and varicose veins. SOURCES OF INFORMATION: …

In premenopausal heavy menstrual bleeding without pathologic cause, do nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) improve patient outcomes? Based on low-quality evidence, NSAIDs reduce relative mean menstrual blood loss by about 30%, and…

OBJECTIVE: To study the outcomes of women with infertility or miscarriage treated with natural procreative technology (NaProTechnology or NPT), a systematic medical approach to promoting conception in vivo; and to compare the outcomes with …

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the rates of cervical cancer screening among female patients with psychosis compared with similar patients without psychosis, as an indicator of the quality of primary preventive health care. DESIGN: A retrospecti…

OBJECTIVE: To summarize the evidence linking dietary habits to the incidence of several types of cancer with special emphasis on the chemoprotective properties of foods that originate from plants. QUALITY OF EVIDENCE: A large body of epide…

OBJECTIVE: To present a practical approach to the symptom complex called chronic pelvic pain (CPP). Chronic pelvic pain is defined as nonmenstrual pain lasting 6 months or more that is severe enough to cause functional disability or require…

OBJECTIVE: To review the presentation of endometriosis, steps to diagnosis, and medical and surgical management options. SOURCES OF INFORMATION: MEDLINE was searched from January 1996 to November 2004, EMBASE from January 1996 to January 2…

OBJECTIVE: To review family physicians' role in investigation and management of infertile couples. QUALITY OF EVIDENCE: MEDLINE and PubMed were searched using the MeSH headings infertility, advanced maternal age, polycystic ovarian syndrom…

Irritable bowel syndrome is one of the most common reasons for disability and health care seeking. A sensible strategy for management incorporates a confident diagnosis based upon history, physical examination, and pertinent tests. The phys…

Pelvic inflammatory disease is an important cause of acute and chronic morbidity among women of reproductive age, and PID rates are rising. Clinical diagnosis of PID is often inaccurate, but can be improved by knowledge of risk factors and …

Endometrial ablation is a relatively new treatment for patients with persistent menorrhagia. The procedure can be performed by either laser photocoagulation or electrocoagulation; both have a very low risk of complication. Generally, less t…

After a period of rather slow initial acceptance by general surgeons, laparoscopy and video endoscopic surgery have suddenly burst on to the surgical scene. Almost overnight many of the surgical procedures once requiring a large incision ar…

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Physicians lack knowledge on how to help women who have miscarried deal with their emotional distress. We interviewed 16 women 4 and 12 weeks after a miscarriage. The women described their experience of miscarriage and perceptions of what h…

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