On the “protracted battle” against polycystic ovary syndrome

  The diagnosis and evaluation of polycystic ovary syndrome has been controversial worldwide because of differences in ethnicity, geography, and lifestyle, and people continue to reach consensus on new understandings and seek common ground while maintaining differences.  A comprehensive evaluation strategy for PCOS patients Doctors diagnose PCOS patients not only by asking medical history, physical examination, and ultrasound, but also by recommending relevant tests to understand the condition in order to develop immediate and long-term treatment plans.  Because of the above understanding of PCOS, it is not enough to perform only the tests required for the diagnosis of patients with suspected or diagnosed PCOS, whether from the perspective of diagnosis and treatment of recent complications or prevention and control of long-term complications, but a comprehensive assessment of the patient is needed. The quantitative evaluation criteria include the internationally accepted hairiness score (FG score) and the distribution of body hair in 9 parts of the body.  2.Serum androgen test The measurable types of serum androgens include total testosterone, free testosterone, androstenedione and dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate, etc. At present, most clinical tests measure total testosterone; the measurement of 17 hydroxyprogesterone is mainly used to identify congenital adrenocortical hyperplasia; if the measurement of total testosterone is normal but accompanied by clinical signs of Kaohsiung, sex hormone binding globulin is measured and the free testosterone index is calculated accordingly.  As mentioned above, patients with PCOS are at high risk for impaired glucose tolerance and T2DM, therefore, several professional academic groups have proposed that oral glucose tolerance test should be performed to screen for abnormal glucose metabolism in all patients with PCOS; BMI, blood pressure measurement and oral glucose tolerance measurement are recommended to be performed before pregnancy.  Assessment of cardiovascular disease risk PCOS patients of any age have higher risk factors for cardiovascular disease than other populations, such as hypertension, dyslipidemia, diabetes mellitus, and obesity. Therefore, assessment of these risk factors is recommended for screening of patients with PCOS: blood pressure, lipid level testing (including total cholesterol, HDL, LDL, non-HDL cholesterol and triglycerides, ApoB/A1), waist circumference, and BMI. iii. Risk assessment for endometrial lesions PCOS is also thought to be associated with an increased risk of tumorigenesis, such as endometrial cancer. In addition, the interference of various potential confounding factors, such as obesity, type 2 diabetes, inflammatory conditions, and metabolic syndrome, assesses the tumor risk of PCOS is very complicated. Nevertheless, it is widely recognized that women with PCOS secondary to amenorrhea have a higher risk of endometrial hyperplasia and endometrial cancer. There is no optimal method to predict endometrial cancer, and assessment for the presence of endometrial cancer is based primarily on a history of abnormal uterine bleeding, the woman’s age, and ultrasound images of the endometrium.  IV. Assessment of fertility For women with PCOS, fertility disorders in the reproductive years are the main reason for many women to visit the clinic, and ovulation induction is the preferred option based on lifestyle modification. Serum AMH, ovarian sinus follicle count, BMI, and degree of insulin resistance are all factors that influence ovulation and fertility success.  In some patients with adolescent-onset PCOS, there is often a more complex genetic background and difficulties in inducing ovulation; in patients with clomiphene resistance, it is important to assess the background of hyperandrogenemia signs and metabolic abnormalities; for risk assessment of recurrent miscarriage, there is no strong evidence to support a correlation with PCOS, but the relationship between insulin resistance and recurrent miscarriage, has been confirmed.