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Haitham Hamoda
King's Fertility
How is PCOS (polycystic ovary syndrome) treated?
Dr Haitham Hamodalists some of the ways thatPCOS (polycystic ovary syndrome)can be treated, and explains that different symptoms of PCOS will be treated in different ways.
Transcript
PCOS would be treated depending on the problems it is causing for the patient. So if the patient would present with issues related to infertility because they are having infrequent menstrual cycles and they're not ovulating, the treatment of it would be to give them medications to help induce ovulation and overcome that issue or the aspect of anovulation. On the other hand, we do see patients who may present complaining of symptoms related to androgen excess as increased hair growth or being overweight. And in that situation, the treatment will depend on what the patient's fertility desires are. So if the patient is not planning to get pregnant, the combined contraceptive pill can be an option. If they're trying to get pregnant, we will have a discussion with them about prioritising what they would want to do. And we will say that if you're trying to get pregnant at this stage, we can concentrate on that aspect and proceed with fertility treatment. In the group of patients who are trying to get pregnant, we can consider a medication called metformin. And what metformin does, it lowers the sensitivity of the hormone insulin, which is thought to contribute to the pathology and the effects of polycystic ovarian syndrome.