Polycystic Ovarian Disease (PCOD)

Hello,

 I am Dr. Saloni Chopra, Gynaecologist. Today I will talk about a very highlighted topic which is very common amongst the adolescent age group as well as the women of the reproductive age group which is called PCOS. Previously it was considered as a disease thinking that it will affect only the ovaries. But over the period of time we have realized that it is not only the ovaries, it is the whole body which will be affected and it is a hormonal imbalanced condition. It almost affects 10 million females in the whole world. The cause of the PCOS is unknown. But there are 3 factors which we can consider. One is genetic which runs in the family. There is a possibility that you also can have the same problem. 2nd is there are 2 hormones which are responsible for it and which increases the level of this condition.

One is the insulin level. Insulin hormone is the one which controls the sugar level of the body. So, what happens in this condition, insulin level increases but this does not act upon the body so that is called insulin resistance. 2nd is the high level of androgen which are the male hormones which cause inflammation in the ovaries and affect the menstrual cycle. So, if we think what are the symptoms of PCOS, the most common is an infrequent cycle or frequent cycle, absence of periods. Infrequent means it will come after 40-60 days. Too frequent means it can come within 15-20 days. Absence means they can have an absence for 2-3 months. This basically not takes on there, mental and physical health also gets disturbed.

The other symptoms will be weight gain, acne, hair loss, and male pattern baldness, unwanted hair on the chin, breast, thigh, abdomen. And there will be a time when a woman will have the difficulty in conceiving also. They can have blackness over the armpits, neck region and groin region. It can also cause depression and stress for the woman. How do we diagnose PCOS? There are 3 things which have to be considered. First is the history of the patient. 2nd is hormonal imbalance which we can check by the blood test. In ultrasound, we will see the enlarged ovaries and multiple cysts in the ovaries. If any of the 2 factors are present, we can categorize the patient into PCOS. It is not necessary that all the 3 factors should be there.

So, now what are the risk factors? If the patient continues with PCOS and does not take any treatment, they can have other complications like infertility, diabetes, hypertension, stroke, heart disease. How do we treat PCOS? The 2 most important thing lifestyle in which you need to have a balanced diet and regular exercises. Even a 5% reduction in weight can regularise your cycle and reduce the symptoms of PCOS. And the 2nd thing which we can go to is the drug. So, if the women are not trying to conceive, we can give them medications, hormonal pills to regularize the cycle. We give the medicines to control the symptoms. We can go for laser treatment and there are creams available for that. If the patient is trying to conceive, we can give insulin drugs as well as for ovulation. Last is surgery which is not done at the initial stage of PCOS and if it is required, we can go for ovarian drilling in which we do multiple holes in the ovaries. I hope you have liked the video.

Thank You.