 Full programme transcript >>
Contraception
In this week’s Case Notes, Dr Mark Porter examines new developments in contraception.
His guest in the studio is Dr Diana Mansour, Consultant in Community Gynaecology and Reproductive Healthcare at Newcastle General Hospital.
The female pill
The two most popular types of oral contraceptives for women are the progestogen-only pill and the combined pill.
Two new types of combined pill (which aren't currenly available in the UK) cause women to have far fewer periods: Seasonale gives women just four periods a year, while those on Anya have none.
Dr Anne Szarewski, a consultant in family planning at the Margaret Pyke Family Planning Clinic in London explains the advantages and disadvantages of this.
Long-term contraception
the National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence believe we are under-using long-acting contraceptives like injections and implants.
Mark asks if British doctors should encourage more women to use these methods, and Claudia Hammond hears about the Mirena intra-uterine system, which lasts five years and is twenty times more effective in preventing pregnancy than the pill.
Hormonal contraceptives for men
Richard Anderson, Professor of Clinical Reproductive Sciences at the University of Edinburgh, and Pierre Bouloux, Professor of Endocrinology at the Royal Free Hospital in London, describe their research into creating a hormonal contraceptive for men.
One of the most promising versions uses a combination of an implant and injections – and two types of hormone: progestogen and testosterone. Mark finds out how it works, and should it become available, whether men will actually want it. |
30 min
