Comprehensive Women's Center

Welcome

(L to R) Anna Bobba, MD, M. Susan Scanlon, MD, NCMP

Kathryn M. Ray, MD, Mary S. Farhi, MD, MPH, NCMP

Our mission is to enhance and extend women's lives by providing the highest quality OB/Gyn services in a caring manner. We pledge to be sensitive and respectful of our patients. We are also committed to involving our patients in the development of their own health care programs by providing patient education in the office as well as through lectures within local communities.

We are committed to our patients and welcome new patients. Emergencies will be seen within 24 hours during our normal business hours. In order to expand our availability, we also offer appointments with our certified nurse practioners.

As we pledge to respect our patients, we also ask our patients to respect our practice in return. If you need to cancel an appointment, please give us at least a 24 hour advance notice so we may offer these appointments to other patients. In terms of phone calls, we ask that routine OB/GYN questions be placed during our regular office hours - this also includes prescription requests. Please reserve phone calls to our physicians, after regular business hours, to medical emergencies and labor patients. We appreciate your understanding.

Patient Forms:

2010 New Patient Forms

2010 Annual Forms

2010 New OB Questionnaire

Announcements:

JAMA Article Reports Relationship Between Hormone Replacement Therapy and Breast Cancer. What Does this Mean for our CWC Patients?

In October, a report published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) on Hormone Replacement Therapy and Breast Cancer made major headline in the news. CWC feels it is important to take a minute to clarify the research findings, and our position on the findings, for our patients.

Specifically, the Women's Health Initiative (WHI) report "Estrogen Plus Progestin and Breast Cancer and Incidence and Mortality in Postmenopausal Women" concluded that women taking estrogen and progestin together have a higher incidence of breast cancer. Furthermore, the report states that "breast cancer mortality also appears to be increased with combined use of estrogen plus progestin."

Similar to their position prior to the WHI Report, the doctors at CWC recommend only using hormone therapy to manage moderate to severe symptoms of menopause. Patients should use the lowest effective dose for the shortest amount of time. This position is also held by the North American Menopause Society.

CWC would like to explain for our patients the specific details of WHI Report. For women using a combination of estrogen plus progestin, findings show an increase of 1 to 2 deaths per 10,000 women per year. For every 10,000 women in the study who were randomized to placebo, there were 1.3 deaths from breast cancer per year. For every 10,000 women randomized to combined hormone therapy, there were 2.6 deaths from breast cancer per year. These results apply to combination estrogen plus progestin and not to estrogen alone. The WHI found no increase in breast cancer risk with estrogen alone (without a progestin) among women with hysterectomy over an average of 7 years of randomized treatment.

As outlined by the North American Menopause Society (NAMS), patients need to understand that "the increased risk of breast cancer using estrogen plus progestogen for 5 years is very similar to the increased risk of breast cancer associated with having menopause 5 years later. This increased risk of breast cancer occurs with a woman's own internal, natural estrogen and progesterone." Therefore, similar to NAMS, the doctors at CWC recommend only using hormone therapy to treat moderate to severe symptoms of menopause.

For a synopsis of the report WHI Report in JAMA, click here.

CWC Patients Help Haitian Women

Thank you all for the generous donations of feminine hygiene products and diapers for the Haitian women and children. We collected more than 10 large boxes of goods and have forwarded them on to the AFYA Foundation for distribution in Haiti. Thank you again.