What’s in a name?
Treat the syndrome – or the patient?
A better way to proceed, Dr. Pal suggested, is to drop the labels and embrace the patient’s experience.
“I ask them, ‘What is your bother?’ Is it the irregular periods? The acne? The hair? The weight? It may be that a more mature woman wants to start a family, and that is the issue we address. Or for younger women, it may be the other issues, and for them, that should be our primary concern.”
Dr. Azziz agreed.
“We need to confirm the diagnosis, and then confirm any related disorders, and make sure our patients are healthy in other ways. PCOS alone is not so much a concern. We simply cannot treat all our patients the same. Instead, we need to get very clear with them about their own objectives. Are they trying to lose weight or get pregnant? We are talking about basic personalized medicine here, not labeling just for the sake of giving something a name.”
Ms. Copp’s thoughts were in the same vein as well.
“Do all these women really need to be ‘diagnosed,’ or can we monitor their symptoms and treat what is bothersome without a label? A diagnostic label doesn’t change the treatment, especially for young women whose PCOS symptoms might be transient and not require treatment at all.”
None of those interviewed for this article had any relevant financial disclosures.
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