"I have had an exceedingly beautiful life" The Jewish gynecopathologist Robert Meyer (1864-1947) and his extraordinary response to Nazi repression.

The Jewish scientist Robert Meyer received worldwide professional recognition as a pioneer gynecopathologist. Before his death, he wrote a memoir in which he gave an entirely positive assessment of his life. The latter, however, is at odds with the fact that he was disenfranchised by the National Socialists and driven into emigration. But even before Hitler's seizure of power, he had to cope with several strokes in private as well as in professional life. This article takes these apparent inconsistencies as an occasion for a fundamental analysis of Robert Meyer's life and work. Special attention is paid to his scientific achievements, but also to repressive experiences in the Third Reich, the background of his emigration and his specific handling of these adversities. Various archival documents, Meyer's memoirs, and other contemporary writings by and about Robert Meyer and about the development of the field of gynecopathology serve as central sources. The study concludes that Meyer made fundamental contributions to the embryology of the vagina, ovarian tumors, cancer diagnosis, endometriosis, and genital and fetal abnormalities. Despite his scientific merits, he was never granted a regular professorship - mainly, because he was professionally caught between two stools (gynecology and pathology), but also due to low career ambition. Nevertheless, thanks to influential supporters, he was able to hold out in Germany until 1939, when he emigrated to the United States. Meyer considered his life "beautiful" despite many misfortunes because he defined happiness in life primarily in terms of fulfilling personal relationships and was willing to accept life as it comes. In addition, he found distraction and fulfillment in his scientific work.

Morcellation equipment: past, present, and future.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: This review was written in an effort to describe the evolution of power morcellation equipment from their creation to their current state. In addition, this review addresses the continuously evolving equipment involved with power morcellation and looks to describe where the field is headed in the future. In addition, recent professional and federal recommendations have changed the way power morcellation is being approached and has led to the development of contained morcellation systems, which, although in their infancy, are also being proven to be well tolerated options. RECENT FINDINGS: This article will review the most current research on electronic power morcellation and the multiple attempts to prove superiority from the many different types of equipment, and also the many different approaches to morcellation. In addition, with the adaptation to contained morcellation, this review will cover research focused on optimizing a containment system and the techniques involved. SUMMARY: In summary, this review is aimed at describing many of the currently available power morcellation products and contained morcellation systems in an effort to allow physicians to understand the different options available, and to discuss well tolerated, effective, and clinically proven techniques that can lead to improved surgical outcomes in the future.

Development and history of morcellators.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Controversy exists surrounding extraction of tissue in gynecologic surgery using morcellators following cases of disseminated uterine cancers discovered after the use of electromechanical morcellators. This chapter traces the history of tissue extraction in gynecology and reviews the evolving scientific data and opinions regarding the future of morcellation. RECENT FINDINGS: Since the initial Food and Drug Administration warning about morcellation in 2014, subsequent studies do not support the Food and Drug Administration's high incidence of occult uterine cancer. Current research continues, focusing on methods of contained tissue morcellation, both laparoscopically and vaginally. SUMMARY: Minimally invasive surgical techniques have revolutionized gynecology, drastically reducing the need for open procedures. To maximize patient safety while preserving the rapid recovery and low morbidity of laparoscopic and vaginal approaches, optimal methods of tissue extraction need to be developed and promulgated.

Female cancer. A perspective from the Latin south

Esse tema emergiu no campo da "história de doenças 'graças ao trabalho de um grupo heterogêneo de historiadores médicos e sociais, sociólogos, antropólogos e profissionais de saúde baseada principalmente em países da Europa e anglo-saxões. Tal abordagem multidisciplinar parte de perspectivas onde o câncer e sua história parecem abrigar alguns insights significativos para muitos sem resposta. Tais pesquisas estão contribuindo para expandir a análise do histórico de doenças pelo desenho da atenção às doenças crônicas e não transmissíveis, cuja relevância ter sido um pouco negligenciada em comparação com a atenção dada às doenças contagiosas e infecciosas. Uma boa parte dos estudos tem se concentrado particularmente na história dos cânceres femininos, mais especificamente, ginecológicos (mama, colo do útero, ovário e útero) começando a delinear a trajetória contemporânea sobre o câncer na saúde da mulher e o impacto do câncer nas sociedades. Há, no entanto, alguma razão crescente para a literatura examinar os cânceres femininos: no início no século XX, o câncer ginecológico é mencionado muitas vezes quando a doença é abordada. Nas décadas seguintes cresceram em grande extensão as observações acerca da identificação, diagnóstico, tratamento e prognóstico sustentado e noções gerais sobre o câncer como uma doença, de forma mais ampla. Exames históricos sobre câncer têm sido cautelosos em retratar os componentes de gênero da doença, permeando toda as iniciativas em "luta contra o câncer."Recentemente, os historiadores de câncer na América Latina estão contribuindo bastante para os relatos históricos da doença, documentando algumas de suas características distintas em uma região. Neste sentido, a América Latina oferece um lócus fecundo para explorar questões de espacialidade em conhecimentos médicos que vão além de uma mera recontagem da comunalidade e as diferenças observadas ao controle da doença em relação a Europa e à América.

History of hysterectomy: a significant problem for colonoscopists that is not present in patients who have had sigmoid colectomy.

PURPOSE: During colonoscopy, it is often difficult to traverse the sigmoid colon in patients who have had a hysterectomy, presumably due to postsurgical pelvic adhesions. We performed this study to document this difficulty and to determine whether sigmoid colectomy prevents it. METHODS: Data were acquired from a single endoscopist's prospective database. Colonoscopies performed in women were grouped according to history of hysterectomy and/or sigmoid colectomy. Groups were compared for colonoscopy completion rate, medication used, and time of examination. Participation of fellows and rate of complications were recorded. Patients with a history of abdominal-perineal resection of the rectum were excluded. RESULTS: From 1989 to 2006, a total of 4116 colonoscopies were performed in women: 993 had undergone hysterectomy (24.1%), of whom 108 (10.9%) had also undergone sigmoid colectomy. There were 3123 exams in woman who had their uterus (75.9%); 320 (10.2%) had undergone sigmoid colectomy. Patients who still had a sigmoid colon but had a history of hysterectomy had significantly lower colonoscopy completion rates (89.2%) and significantly longer mean examination time (28.9 +/- 12.3 minutes), and more of them required sedation with benzodiazepines (88.7%) than the other groups (P < .05). Fellow participation increased time of colonoscopy and complications were more frequent in patients with hysterectomy. CONCLUSION: Posthysterectomy adhesions to the sigmoid colon make colonoscopy more difficult and more painful. These adverse effects are not present in hysterectomized women who have undergone sigmoid resection.

Testosterone therapy in women with gynecological and sexual disorders: a triumph of clinical endocrinology from 1938 to 2008.

INTRODUCTION: Although the term "medicalization" has been used by some to describe contemporary testosterone use in women with sexual disorders and testosterone deficiency syndrome, testosterone therapy for women with various gynecological and sexual disorders has been practiced since the late 1930s. AIM: The study aimed to perform a historical review of testosterone use in women with sexual and gynecological disorders. This review is necessary to bridge important knowledge gaps in the clinical use of testosterone in women with sexual health concerns and to provoke new thoughts and understanding of the multidisciplinary role of testosterone in women's overall health. METHODS: Review of medical literature on androgen therapy in women was carried out from 1938 through 2008. RESULTS: Approximately 70 years ago, clinicians from various disciplines relied on personal experience and clinical observations for outcome assessment of testosterone therapy in women. These early reports on testosterone use in women with sexual medical problems served as a foundation for the development of contemporary approaches and subsequent testosterone treatment regimens. Testosterone use was reported for sexual dysfunction, abnormal uterine bleeding, dysmenorrhea, menopausal symptoms, chronic mastitis and lactation, and benign and malignant tumors of the breast, uterus, and ovaries. CONCLUSIONS: Health-care professionals engaged in the management of women's health issues have observed the benefits of androgen therapy throughout much of the 20th century. Despite this clinical use of testosterone in women for more than seven decades, contemporary testosterone therapy in women is hotly debated, misunderstood, and often misrepresented in the medical community.

[Interdisciplinary questions of gynecology and urology]. / Gynäkologisch-urologische Grenzfragen.

Disease of the female genital system often lead to involvement of the urinary tract. This mostly is caused by topical relations between both systems. Futhermore renal disease and disease of the urinary tract are frequent complications of pregnancy. In the course of centuries research in the gynecological and urological interdisciplinary area have developed which lead to many new understandings in diagnosis and therapy. Concerned patients received help that had not been accessible in earlier times. Examples are post partum bladder-vaginal fistulas, stress-incontinence, urological complications in operations of uterine cancer and pyelonephritis in pregnancy. Many questions, though, remain unsolved despite progress in this interdisciplinary area.