The Climacteric: An Update: Proceedings of the fourth Jan Palfijn Symposium, European Conference on the Menopause, held in Antwerp, Belgium, on September 1–2, 1983, under the auspices of ‘De Vereniging voor Nederlandstalige gynecologen van België’ and ‘Th

THE JAN PALFIJN SYMPOSIA In 1979 the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology of the Jan Palfijn Hospital in Merksem, Antwerp, celebrated its 25th Anniver­ sary. To mark the occasion, the first symposium was organized, the theme chosen being hysteroscopy. Thanks to the cooperation of specialists from both within and outside Belgium the event attracted such a large attendance that it was decided to follow up this first venture with others. In the light of the experience gained from the first symposium, we established the Jan Palfijn Foundation for Gynaecological and Obstetrical Didactics, the reasons for this being budgetary and, in particular, organizational. This approach made it possible to attract the cooperation of enthusiastic fellow workers from outside the hospital on a permanent or ad hoc basis and hence to reach a much wider group of experts in all fields, both at home and abroad. In 1981 the second symposium was held at the Jan Palfijn Hospital, the topic being echography in obstetrics and gynaecology. Almost all of the Belgian universities were represented and papers were presented by confreres from practically all of the EEC countries. When the third symposium was held, in 1982, again on hysteroscopy, the speakers and audience could literally hardly be squeezed into the Jan Palfijn Hospital's facilities. The fourth symposium was accordingly organized in the modern, luxurious facilities of the new administration building of the Antwerp Provincial Authority. Front Matter....Pages i-xvi Introduction to hormonal therapy in the perimenopause....Pages 1-2 Menopause: The beginning of a curable disease or a lucky phenomenon?....Pages 3-10 The climacteric in different cultural contexts....Pages 11-18 The view of the woman....Pages 19-28 Factors influencing oestrogen production and metabolism in postmenopausal women with endocrine cancer....Pages 29-49 Steroid hormone receptors and their changes in the perimenopause....Pages 51-62 Clinical significance of the binding between oestrogens and intra- and extracellular proteins....Pages 63-74 Sex steroids and lipoproteins....Pages 75-81 Oestrone sulphatase activity in normal and pathological endometria....Pages 83-86 Considerations on the output of pituitary gonadotrophins in the perimenopause....Pages 87-99 Problems of the untreated menopause....Pages 101-110 The perimenopausal woman: guidance and treatment....Pages 111-118 Oral oestrogen treatment of the climacteric and the postmenopausal period....Pages 119-126 Percutaneous oestrogen therapy....Pages 127-139 Clinical effects of vaginally applied oestrogens....Pages 141-147 Hormone implants in women following hysterectomy and bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy....Pages 149-155 Osteoporosis and its treatment....Pages 157-179 Early diagnosis of osteoporosis....Pages 181-197 Interrelation of oestrogen and the major calcium regulating hormones....Pages 199-206 Risks of endometrial and mammary cancer morbidity and mortality in long-term oestrogen treatment....Pages 207-216 Cardiovascular impact of therapy and risks....Pages 217-237 Perimenopausal oestrogen therapy and breast cancer....Pages 239-243 Effects of postmenopausal treatment on lipoproteins....Pages 245-252 Benefits of progestogen therapy in the postmenopause....Pages 253-264 Hysterectomy in The Netherlands....Pages 265-270 Prophylactic oophorectomy at hysterectomy for benign pathology....Pages 271-278 Gynaecological surgery in women aged 65 years and over....Pages 279-283 Back Matter....Pages 285-294