SMLC-Global City hosts int'l OB-Gyn confab

MANILA, Philippines - The SLMC-Global City OB-Gyn Department is hosting the two-day second International Conference on Obstetrics and Gynecology starting today at the hospital’s Henry Sy Sr. Auditorium.

This year’s theme, “Cutting-Edge Technology in Obstetrics and Gynecology,” tackles the latest developments in the practice, particularly in sub-specialties such as perinatal medicine, reproductive endocrinology and infertility, oncology, urogynecology, and aesthetic gynecology.

Topics to be discussed include those related to robotic surgery for cervical cancer, pre-implantation genetic diagnosis and embryo screening, stem cells, and low-cost IVF.

Distinguished physicians from Italy, Canada and the United States will share their knowledge with local practitioners.

Speakers from the US include Dr. Mark Hughes, director of the Genesis Genetics Institute and the Applied Genomics Technology Center in Detroit, Michigan, and Dr. Farr Nezhat, chief of the Gynecologic Minimally Invasive Surgery, Robotics and Fellowship Division of Gynecologic Oncology at St. Luke’s and Roosevelt Hospital in New York.

Also speaking are Dr. Gian Carlo Di Renzo, a professor at the University of Perugia and chairman of the Reproductive and Perinatal Medicine Center of the Santa Maria della Misericordia Hospital in Italy, and Dr. Dan Farine, chairman of the Section of Maternal Fetal Medicine at the Mt. Sinai Hospital in Toronto, Canada.

Local speakers from St. Luke’s OB-Gyn Department will also be presenting their lectures.

Meanwhile, the Center for Advanced Reproductive Medicine and Infertility (CARMI) located in SLMC-Global City has posted a higher overall live birth and ongoing pregnancy rate of 36 percent compared to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) which has reported an average live birth rate of 31 percent among in vitro fertilization (IVF) centers in the US (2009). The same percentage is also reported by IVF centers in most Asian countries.

The center also recorded an overall pregnancy rate of 48 percent and an overall clinical pregnancy rate of 42 percent since it began operations less than a year ago.

It also uses the latest and top-of-the-line robotics technology in gynecologic surgeries through the da Vinci Si Surgical System.

“We have done the most number of gynecologic robotic surgeries in the country, nearly 20 by the end of June,” said Dr. Rebecca Singson, chairperson of the OB-Gyn Department at SLMC-GC.

With this technology, trained surgeons can perform minimally invasive surgeries such as myomectomies, ovarian cysts removals, hysterectomies, and also sacrocolpopexy (repositioning a prolapsed vaginal vault).

Recovery of patients is fast and they can return to work within seven to 10 days instead of the usual six-week downtime in open surgeries.

Robotic surgery also provides minimal incision, post-operative pain, scarring and even risk of infection.

For inquiries, call the Customer Affairs Division at St. Luke’s Medical Center-Quezon City at (632) 723-0101 ext. 4220 or 4221, St. Luke’s Medical Center-Global City at 789-7700 ext. 5052 or 5099 or e-mail at [email protected]. Visit the website at www.ics.stluke.com.ph/ob-gyne.