Notes: Objective To investigate the attitude of consultant gynaecologists and general practitioners to various aspects of hormone replacement therapy and to compare the findings in these two groups.Design Anonymous postal survey of 589 general practitioners and 998 consultant gynaecologists; 373 (63%) and 655 (66%) valid replies, respectively, were received.Main outcome measures Views on universal treatment of eligible women, indications for hormone replacement therapy, prescribing practice, pretreatment investigation, monitoring, and contraindications to treatment.Results More consultants (64%) than general practitioners (56%) thought hormone replacement therapy should be offered to all eligible women, with a significant trend against treatment amongst more senior consultants. Most practitioners were prepared to offer treatment before the cessation of menstruation, but only 27% of consultants and 11% of general practitioners recommended indefinite treatment. Most limited treatment to less than 10 years. Menopausal symptoms, premature natural and surgical menopause, and a family history of osteoporosis were regarded as indications for treatment, but less than half felt established osteoporosis an indication. Hormone replacement therapy was judged to reduce the risk of ischaemic heart disease and osteoporosis by both groups but there was less consensus on the prevention of cerebrovascular accident. In general, consultants had more faith in hormone replacement therapy as prophylaxis. One-quarter of consultants said that hormone replacement therapy should be initiated by consultants. Only 4% of general practitioners shared this view. About 30% of both groups required mammography, but less than 10% required sophisticated tests. A range of common cardiovascular conditions were regarded as contraindications, although general practitioners were more likely to regard thrombosis and cerebrovascular accident as contraindications. Breast cancer and a family history of breast cancer were regarded with suspicion by both groups.Conclusions Practitioners were positively inclined to hormone replacement therapy, but many were unconvinced of its chronic use and use in those with cardiovascular conditions. There were differences in views as to who should initiate therapy.

Notes: Summary. Twenty-nine women, mean age 36·3 (SD 5·5) years, with premature ovarian failure received donated ova on an ovum donation programme. Three had Turner's syndrome, four a surgical menopause, one a chemotherapy-induced menopause and 21 had idiopathic premature ovarian failure. All donated oocytes were fertilized with frozenthawed spermatozoa from the recipient's partner, and the resulting zygotes were frozen until transfer had been arranged. Overall, 19 women had intrauterine embryo transfer (ET) and a mean of 2·7 (SD 0·9) embryos were transferred on 20 occasions; 10 women underwent zygote intrafallopian transfer (ZIFT) and a mean of 3·5 (SD 0·5) zygotes were transferred on 10 occasions. Both groups were matched for age. The pregnancy rate per transfer was 20% in the ET group and 40% in the ZIFT group. After excluding the 10 women in the ET group who had fewer than three embryos transferred, the pregnancy rates were similar in the two groups, 30% in the ET group and 40% in the ZIFT group. Cryopreserved embryos may be used for ovum donation to preserve anonymity and still show a high pregnancy rate of at least 30% per transfer.

Notes: Summary. The effects of subcutaneous oestradiol implants on ovarian activity were investigated in 14 ovulating premenopausal women. Treatment with either 100 mg or 150 mg oestradiol was combined with cyclical oral norethisterone from days 20 to 26 of the cycle to ensure regular withdrawal periods and prevent endometrial hyperplasia. Ovarian function was monitored by regular pelvic ultrasonography and urinalysis over a period of nine cycles. During the first three cycles after hormone implantation, follicular development continued in almost half the study group, but only one of the women in each treatment group showed signs of follicular rupture and luteinization. By the sixth cycle, over half the women given the lower dose of oestradiol were developing follicles, including a large functional cyst in one, but none of them ovulated. A further implant given early in the seventh cycle was associated with ovarian suppression in all cases. Both doses of implant elevated the excretion of oestrone-3-glucuronide compared to pretreatment. The contraceptive and therapeutic implications of these results are discussed.

Notes: Summary. The thigh skin collagen content and the metacarpal index were measured in 69 untreated postmenopausal women and in 37 postmenopausal women who had been receiving oestradiol and testos terone implants for 2–10 years. There was a significant positive correlation between the skin collagen content and the metacarpal index in both groups of patients. In the untreated group, there was a statistically significant decrease both in the thigh skin collagen content and in the metacarpal index with the years since the menopause. This decrease was preventable in women who were on sex hormone replacement therapy.

Notes: Summary. From a study of 2000 consecutive labours the outcome of the 684 primigravid patients admitted in spontaneous labour has been examined according to their cervimetric progress during the first stage of labour. A partogram and labour stencil were used to identify dysfunctional labour which was treated with a standard protocol of augmentation by oxytocin. This policy achieved labours with a mean‘observed first stage’ of 6.3 h and a caesarean section rate of 8.7%. There was one stillbirth due to multiple congenital abnormalities and no increase in perinatal morbidity. Our data show that the type of first stage cervimetric pattern is helpful in predicting the outcome of labour. A normal cervimetric pattern resulted in a vaginal delivery rate of 98.4%; primary dysfunctional labour, which could be improved by oxytocin, had a 93.8% incidence of vaginal delivery, but if there was no improvement in the rate of cervical dilatation when this was administered the vaginal delivery rate was only 22.7%. A prolonged latent phase was associated with a caesarean section rate of 16.7% and the incidence of neonatal intubation was nearly as high as that found in uncorrected primary dysfunctional labour. The neonatal asphyxia in secondary arrest was minimal with an overall caesarean section rate of 28.4%; there was no increased incidence of neonatal morbidity with this cervimetric type.

Notes: The surface ultrastructure of normal and abnormal endometrial cells from patients receiving oestrogen therapy for the climacteric syndrome was studied by scanning electron microscopy. Patients with endometrial pathology were treated with oral progestogens. Excessive oestrogen stimulation caused proliferation of cilia and microvilli. Cystic hyperplasia was characterised by a proliferation of cilia until they covered more than one-third of the surface area of the endometrium; further proliferation occurred in cases of adenomatous hyperplasia when the surface was almost completely covered with cilia. Cell morphology remained apparently normal until atypical hyperplasia, when occasional cells appeared large and irregular, or adenocarcinoma occurred, when the surface cells appeared large, pleomorphic and sometimes wrinkled, being mostly devoid of cilia. Although cystic hyperplasia was converted to a normal histological picture of atrophic or pseudo-decidual endometrium by courses of progestogen, the deciliated endometrial cells showed persisting abnormal ultrastructural characteristics.