Heavy Menstrual Bleeding:
Assessing Impact, Evaluating Management Options

Program Description:

Heavy menstrual bleeding can have a substantially deleterious impact on quality of life and cause medical repercussions such as iron-deficiency anemia. This monograph reviews epidemiology, etiologies, and the social, emotional, and medical impact of heavy menstrual bleeding as well as the range of treatment options available. It also addresses how to identify appropriate management options for individual patients, factoring in the desire for future pregnancy, social and cultural attitudes toward menstruation, and other personal preferences, in addition to medical considerations.

Activity Objectives:

After completing this educational activity, participants should be able to:

• Define heavy menstrual bleeding
• Explain how heavy bleeding affects quality of life
• Identify 3 management strategies for heavy menstrual bleeding
• List 2 categories of questions to ask a woman with heavy menstrual bleeding to help determine a course of treatment that is appropriate for her.

Faculty:

David A Grimes, MD (CHAIR)
Clinical Professor
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology
University of North Carolina School of Medicine
Chapel Hill, NC
Distinguished Scientist
Family Health International
Research Triangle Park, NC

Anne R. Davis, MD, MPH
Assistant Professor of Clinical Obstetrics and Gynecology
Columbia University Medical Center
New York, NY

Diana E. Ramos, MD, MPH
Associate Clinical Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology
Keck School of Medicine
University of Southern California
Los Angeles, CA

Course Director
Lynn Borgatta, MD, MPH
Associate Professor
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology
Boston Medical Center
Boston, MA

Disclosures:

Boston University School of Medicine asks all individuals involved in the development and presentation of Continuing Medical Education (CME) activities to disclose all relationships with commercial interests. This information is disclosed to CME activity participants. Boston University School of Medicine has procedures to resolve any apparent conflicts of interest. In addition, faculty members are asked to disclose when any unapproved use of a pharmaceutical or device is being discussed.

Lynn Borgatta, MD, MPH, receives grant/research support from Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals and Roche Pharmaceuticals. Dr. Borgatta also serves on the speakers bureau for Schering-Plough.

Anne R. Davis, MD, MPH, receives grant/research support from Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals. She is a consultant for Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals and Vantia Therapeutics and is also on the speakers bureaus for Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals and Wyeth Pharmaceuticals.

David A. Grimes, MD, is a consultant for Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals.

Diana E. Ramos, MD, MPH, FACOG, is a consultant for Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals and Duramed Pharmaceuticals, Inc. She is also on the speakers bureaus for Duramed Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Merck & Co., Inc., and GlaxoSmithKline.

The planning committee (Elizabeth Drury and Elizabeth Stier, MD, Boston University, Fay Nham and Jill Rovitzky Black, Haymarket Medical Education) has no significant financial relationships to disclose.

Boston University School of Medicine advises the audience that one or more articles in this continuing medical education activity may contain reference(s) to unlabeled or unapproved uses of drugs or devices.

Dr. Davis and Dr. Grimes will reference unlabeled/investigational uses of a commercial product in their articles.

Dr. Ramos will not reference unlabeled/investigational uses of a commercial product in her presentation.

DISCLAIMER
THESE MATERIALS AND ALL OTHER MATERIALS PROVIDED IN CONJUNCTION WITH CONTINUING MEDICAL EDUCATION ACTIVITIES ARE INTENDED SOLELY FOR PURPOSES OF SUPPLEMENTING CONTINUING MEDICAL EDUCATION PROGRAMS FOR QUALIFIED HEALTH-CARE PROFESSIONALS. ANYONE USING THE MATERIALS ASSUMES FULL RESPONSIBILITY AND ALL RISK FOR THEIR APPROPRIATE USE. TRUSTEES OF BOSTON UNIVERSITY MAKES NO WARRANTIES OR REPRESENTATIONS WHATSOEVER REGARDING THE ACCURACY, COMPLETENESS, CURRENTNESS, NONINFRINGEMENT, MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE OF THE MATERIALS. IN NO EVENT WILL TRUSTEES OF BOSTON UNIVERSITY BE LIABLE TO ANYONE FOR ANY DECISION MADE OR ACTION TAKEN IN RELIANCE ON THE MATERIALS. IN NO EVENT SHOULD THE INFORMATION IN THE MATERIALS BE USED AS A SUBSTITUTE FOR PROFESSIONAL CARE.

This program is sponsored by Boston University School of Medicine.

This program is supported by an educational grant from Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals.

If you wish to contact Boston University School of Medicine, please email cme@bu.edu, or visit the website, http://www.bu.edu/cme. To view the privacy policy of Boston University School of Medicine, please visit http://www.bu.edu/cme/policies/privacy_policy.html

Instructions:

To obtain credit, a score of 70% or better is required. This CME is offered at no cost to participants. Please proceed with the activity until you have successfully completed this program, answered all test questions, completed the posttest survey, and have received your digital copy of your credit certificate. Your online certificate will be saved on myCME.com within your Profile/Exam History, which you can then access at any time.

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS:

WINDOWS PC SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS:
266-MHz Pentium II; Windows 98 or higher; 64 MB RAM; 800 x 600 screen resolution set for “High Color (16-Bit)”; Macromedia Flash Player 6 or higher.

MACINTOSH^® SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS:
Power Mac g3 at 300 MHz; System 8.5 or higher (excluding Mac OSX); 96 MB RAM; 20 MB minimum hard disk space available; 800 x 600 screen resolution set to “Thousands of Colors”; Macromedia Flash Player 6 or higher.