What is Uromune? Uromune, also known as MV140, is a sublingual polyvalent bacterial vaccine designed for the prevention of recurrent urinary tract infections (RUTIs). It contains a suspension of inactivated bacterial cells from selected strains of Escherichia coli,...
Endometriosis is a chronic condition, which affects women from puberty to menopause. The condition is very prevalent and often diagnosed late because symptoms are either ignored or disregarded by clinicians. The most common symptom is cyclical pelvic pain,...
There are two main types of urinary incontinence. The first is invariably associated with childbirth or the ageing process. This incontinence is often called stress incontinence when the woman can leak with coughing, laughing and sneezing. As the condition progresses,...
Subfertility often causes great anxiety to couples. It is, therefore, essential to investigate thoroughly and quickly at the appropriate time. It is important to realise that 25% of subfertility issues are due to male factors, so investigations should always be...
Approximately 25% of women over the age of 35 have fibroids. A large part of managing these will lead to simple reassurance for many women who have had incidental scans for another reason and have been told they have fibroids. Fibroids, however, can cause problems as...
Heavy periods (menorrhagia) is possibly the most frequent cause for a referral to a gynaecologist. There are many aspects of menstrual disturbance other than heavy periods. Quite frequently, it is a combination of several symptoms that women present with, such as...
The average age of menopause in the UK is approximately 51 years of age. Most women get menopausal symptoms, and those symptoms can be broad and diverse, ranging from hot flushes, night sweats, insomnia, forgetfulness or mood changes with flashes of anxiety or...
Haematuria is the medical term for passing blood in the urine. Several different conditions and diseases can cause haematuria. Although most causes are benign, it can be a sign of a significant health problem, even if it happens only once, so you should talk to your...
As a woman releases an egg from her ovary, a small cyst is formed. These are called physiological ovarian cysts and occur from puberty right through to menopause. Assessment of ovarian cysts involves initially distinguishing between a physiological (normal) or...
Kidney stones are crystal deposits from urine that build up to form a solid stone. They usually form silently in the kidneys and often do not cause symptoms until they start to pass from the kidneys to the bladder. As they pass, they may cause abdominal, loin or back...
Pelvic organ prolapse is the descent of parts of the pelvic organs, usually the vaginal wall or the uterus. Vaginal prolapse on the front wall of the vagina is called a cystocele as the bladder lies immediately above the front wall of the vagina. A prolapse on the...
Pelvic pain is felt below the belly button and between the hips. It may be a sudden, severe pain(acute pelvic pain) or a more moderate pain but last for more than six months (chronic pelvic pain). It can affect both men and women. Common causes of acute pelvic pain...
Many women today are directing themselves towards good, high-quality sexual health screening. This involves not only assessment for infections but also cervical screening. Many women choose to have in-depth HPV screening and more frequent cervical smears than...
A Urinary Tract Infections is the result of a bacterial infection affecting part of the urinary tract causing either a bladder infection (cystitis), kidney infection (pyelonephritis), urethral infection (urethritis) or, in men, the prostate (prostatitis). The most...
An anal fissure is a small tear on the skin around the anal canal that often give symptoms of bright red bleeding and pain on passing a bowel motion. This can either be an acute anal fissure or a chronic, long-standing, non-healing anal fissure. If you have these...
An anal fistula (‘fistula-in-ano’) is an abnormal connection from the skin on the outside of the back passage to inside either the anal canal or sometimes the rectum itself. An anal fistula can result from several conditions but most commonly from prior abscess around...
Diverticular disease is a very common condition that can affect anywhere in the gastrointestinal tract but most commonly involves the large intestine, particularly the sigmoid colon. Diverticular disease often causes no symptoms. Diverticulitis is the term given to...
The gallbladder is located underneath the liver and is part of the biliary tree. The liver makes bile, the function of which is to dissolve fats in your diet to allow their absorption in the intestines. Once the liver makes the bile, it goes through a network of tubes...
Haemorrhoids (piles) are very common. They often present with bright red bleeding from the back passage either on the toilet paper or in the toilet basin. Haemorrhoids are essentially enlarged veins around the back passage. They are graded from grade 1 (internal...
Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a range of conditions where there is inflammation throughout the intestines. Most cases of inflammatory bowel disease are either Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis. Crohn’s disease affects any part of the gastrointestinal tract...