A pair of oncologists in the Program in Women's Oncology at Women & Infants Hospital of Rhode Island recently co-authored a pocket-sized guide to the human papilloma virus (HPV) so physicians can make more accurate diagnosis and plan more effective treatment for women with the virus.
Dx/Rx: Human Papilloma Virus was written by Don S. Dizon, MD, FACP, director of medical oncology at Women & Infants and associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology and medicine at The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, and Ashley Stuckey, MD, of Women & Infants' Breast Health Center and The Breast Health Center at Kent Hospital. A third author was Michael L. Krychman, MD, medical director of sexual medicine at Hoag Hospital in California and executive director of the Southern California Center for Sexual Health and Survivorship Medicine.
The book - available through its publishers, Jones & Bartlett Learning in Sudbury, MA – provides precise, up-to-date information for diagnosis and treatment. Throughout the book, tables and figures summarize important clinical data and current professional society recommendations, with salient references to additional information.
"We wanted to dispel public myths surrounding HPV and, instead, provide medical caregivers with current, easily accessible and concise information in a form they could use in the office or clinic," explained Dr. Dizon, who also established the region's first Center for Sexuality, Intimacy and Fertility at Women & Infants to help women with cancer.
HPV is the most common sexually transmitted disease. Approximately 20 million Americans are currently infected with HPV and another 6 million are newly infected each year. At least 50% of men and women will get HPV at some point in their lives.
There are more than 40 types of HPV that can infect the genital areas of males and females. Strains of the HPV virus can cause genital warts and are a known cause of cancer of the cervix, vulva, vagina, penis, anus and head and neck.
About Women & Infants Hospital
Women & Infants Hospital of Rhode Island, a Care New England hospital, is one of the nation's leading specialty hospitals for women and newborns. A U.S.News Best Hospital in Gynecology and Best Children's Hospital in Neonatology, Women & Infants was ranked number one in the Providence metro area and a top hospital in Cancer and Gynecology. The primary teaching affiliate of The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University for obstetrics, gynecology and newborn pediatrics, as well as a number of specialized programs in women's medicine, Women & Infants is the seventh largest obstetrical service in the country with more than 8,500 deliveries per year. In 2009, Women & Infants opened the country's largest, single-family room neonatal intensive care unit.
New England's premier hospital for women and newborns, Women & Infants and Brown offer fellowship programs in gynecologic oncology, maternal-fetal medicine, urogynecology and reconstructive pelvic surgery, neonatal-perinatal medicine, pediatric and perinatal pathology, gynecologic pathology and cytopathology, and reproductive endocrinology and infertility. It is home to the nation's only mother-baby perinatal psychiatric partial hospital, as well as the nation's only fellowship program in obstetric medicine.
Women & Infants has been designated as a Breast Center of Excellence from the American College of Radiography; a Center for In Vitro Maturation Excellence by SAGE In Vitro Fertilization; a Center of Biomedical Research Excellence by the National Institutes of Health; and a Neonatal Resource Services Center of Excellence. It is one of the largest and most prestigious research facilities in high risk and normal obstetrics, gynecology and newborn pediatrics in the nation, and is a member of the National Cancer Institute's Gynecologic Oncology Group.