Conference Coverage

Treatment Strategies for Patients With PCOS

Anthony Calabro, MA

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is the most common endocrine disorder affecting women of reproductive age. In her virtual session at the Practical Updates in Primary Care (PUPC) 2024 Virtual Series, Chantel Cross, MD, provided an in-depth overview of PCOS, as well as offered a case study involving a 16-year-old adolescent girl with irregular menses every 3 months.

She also discussed several learning objectives for her presentation, including the numerous variations of PCOS in diagnostic criteria, the required workup for patients diagnosed with PCOS, the health conditions associated with PCOS, how fertility and obstetric outcomes are impacted by PCOS, treatment strategies, and reviewed the basic methods of fertility treatment for patients with PCOS.

Dr Cross is the director of reproductive endocrinology and Infertility fellowships, and assistant professor of gynecology and obstetrics at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore, MD.

In her presentation, Dr Cross noted that PCOS is “a highly prevalent, complex endocrine-metabolic condition” that is often associated with comorbidities like type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and metabolic syndrome, obesity, obstructive sleep apnea, endometrial cancer, infertility, depression, and anxiety.

Dr Cross cautioned that before treating patients with PCOS, clinicians must consider measures to reduce the risk of medical comorbidities while ensuring that patient-specific goals of treatment are addressed. For example, for patients not desiring fertility, combined oral contraceptive pills are considered a first-line treatment option. Progestins can also be considered. For patients who are trying to conceive, the clinician must consider the patient’s age and history before determining the extensiveness of the fertility evaluation.

For additional meeting coverage, visit the Practical Updates in Primary Care newsroom.

For more information about PUPC 2024 Virtual Series and to register for upcoming sessions, visit https://www.hmpglobalevents.com/pupc.

Reference
Cross C. Women’s health: treating PCOS and infertility. Talk presented at: Practical Update in Primary Care 2024 Virtual Series; September 20; Virtual. 2024.https://www.hmpglobalevents.com/pupc/agenda.