Fears about the side-effects from family planning are well-documented barriers to use. Many fears are misinformation, while others reflect real experience, and understanding of these is not complete. Using qualitative interviews with women in three countries, this study examines what women feared, how they acquired this knowledge, and how it impacted on decision-making. We aimed to understand whether women would be more likely to use family planning if they were counselled that the side-effects they feared were inaccurate. Across all countries, respondents had a similar host of fears and misinformation about family planning, which were comprised of a mixture of personal experience and rumour. Most fears were method-specific and respondents overwhelmingly stated that they would be more likely to use the family planning method they feared if counselled that there were no side-effects. This suggests programmes should focus on education about family planning methods and method mix.

No abstract

Patients with a forgotten intrauterine device (IUD) present most often with irregular vaginal bleeding or postmenopausal bleeding. We report a case of nonmedicated IUD (Lippes loop) associated with endometrial adenocarcinoma in a woman who presented with postmenopausal bleeding and a forgotten IUD. Although the occurrence of endometrial adenocarcinoma with IUD is almost unknown, yet given the serious nature of the disease, endometrial sampling is indicated in any patient with postmenopausal bleeding and IUD in situ.

Palamaris Longus is a superficial flexor of forearm which springs from the median epicondyle of humerus and is inserted into the palmar aponeurosis. It is often used in tendon grafts for replacement of long flexors of the fingers due to its length and diameter. Hence removal of palmaris longus tendon may not produce functional deformities. In recent times the palmaris longus tendon has gained importance in reconstructive surgeries thus it is essential to know its variations. A case of a variant pattern of insertion of palmaris longus tendon was observed during routine dissection classes for under graduate students in Department of Anatomy. It was noted that the tendon merged with thenar muscles and few fibres of the tendon were seen attached to palmar aponeurosis. Knowledge of variations of the palmaris longus tendon could be of great importance to surgeons, especially to those operating on the hand.

With the increasing trends of coronary heart diseases, the knowledge of variations in the coronary arteries is of paramount importance when considering the various surgical procedures. This study was conducted to know the variations in coronary artery dominance pattern. 77 formalin fixed hearts were dissected. Origin and area of distribution of posterior interventricular artery and SA nodal artery were noted. In 64 hearts (83.11%) posterior inter ventricular artery was a branch of right coronary artery and in 13 hearts (16.88%) it was a branch of left circumflex artery. SA nodal artery was a branch of dominant artery in 46 hearts (59.74%). It arose from non-dominant artery in 29 hearts (37.66%). In the remaining 2 hearts (2.6%) SA nodal artery was a branch from both.