Scientific
Programme
Programme-at-a-Glance
Pre- and Post-Congress
Workshops
 
|
|
“
|
|
Having a congress like this allows us to meet with different
professions and interact around common topics and
interests.
It was very helpful for me to understand the challenges faced by my colleagues
from other professions and disciplines. This gives us an opportunity to take a step back
from clinical practice
and to interact, to be updated,
to reconnect and network.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
”
|
|
|
|
|
~ Prof Julian
Thumboo
Director, SingHealth Health Services Research
Centre
|
|
|
|
Programme >
Obstetrics & Gynaecology Symposium
Paradigms in Obstetrics & Gynaecology
|
|
Track type: Symposium |
 |
Duration: 90 minutes |
|
Location: Academia, Level 2, L2-S3 Exp |
The rate of gestational diabetes
(GDM) continues to rise given the high prevalence of diabetes in Singapore and
the region, obesity and advanced maternal age, has become the key medical
disorder of pregnancy. The checkered history of GDM and the diversity and
discordance of opinions among experts on its existence, its definition and
diagnostic criteria, has arrived at a new chapter following the published
report of the HAPO study, and the subsequent diagnostic criteria established by
the International Association of Diabetes and Pregnancy Study Group (IADPSG).
SingHealth currently uses these criteria. This however, is not universally
adopted globally and the criticisms and alternative diagnostic approaches
employed elsewhere will be discussed. With clear evidence that treatment of GDM
is associated with better perinatal outcomes, there is now a move to translate
this towards universal screening of pregnant women for the condition. Universal
screening would also allow identification of women who were either undiagnosed pre-existing
diabetics or are at risk of developing diabetes in the future, thereby allowing
an excellent opportunity for early detection and intervention.
Topic 2:
An Overview of Surgical Advances in the Management of Gynaecological Cancers
 Speaker: Dr Timothy Lim
Surgical advances in the field of
gynaecologic oncology has progressed much over the last decade. Conventional
laparoscopy was introduced in the mid-1990s in Western countries as an
alternative route to traditional open cancer surgery. It had the benefits of
reduced blood loss, smaller skin incision, less wound pain, faster recovery and
less adhesion formation. However, because of the fear that the surgery was not
adequately radical, the increased costs, the potential impact on survival and
the lack of advanced laparoscopic training, this modality of treatment was only
available in top cancer centres around the world then.
However, in present day Singapore, minimally invasive
surgery for gynaecological cancers is now a reality. This can be routinely
performed safely for patients with early endometrial and cervical cancers and
even in selected patients with ovarian cancer. Other than minimally invasive
surgery, fertility sparing surgery for patients afflicted with early
gynaecological cancers can also be safely performed with good oncologic
outcomes.
Dr Lim will present an overview of the surgical advances in the
management of gynaecological cancers in Singapore.
Topic 3:
The Clinical Approach to Subfertile Women with Unexplained Infertility
Speaker: Dr Liu Shuling
Approximately 20% of couples seeking fertility will be diagnosed with unexplained infertility after their diagnostic workup. The basic diagnostic workup should provide evidence of ovulation, adequate sperm production and patency of the fallopian tubes. However, even the most sophisticated diagnostic assessment cannot reveal all possible abnormalities. Therefore, unexplained infertility appears to represent either the lower extreme of the normal distribution of fertility, or it arises from a defect in fecundity that cannot be detected by the routine infertility workup.
The treatment for unexplained infertility is therefore, by definition, empiric because it does not address a specific defect or functional impairment. It is recommended that IVF treatment be offered to unexplained infertility couples with the caveat that these couples are truly ‘unexplained infertile’.
*Information is correct at time of update
|
|
