Dear Patients and Visitors,                                         Welcome, to my first edition of Doc's Desk.  I am so happy that I've got this site up and running.  It's been a long-time coming for me.  I hope to make this site continuously interesting for all who visit.  I will try to continuously update this website.  I am also open to suggestions from you on future topics for my Featured Article and Recent News sections.   Commentary: I chose the news release featured on Recent News of the Home page because it addresses one of the most controversial topics in my office for the past 2 1/2 years.  This is the topic of hormone replacement.  I urge you to read this article if you are over the age of 45. This article was in the recent ACOG News Release section of their website.  I believe this article will have a significant impact on hormone replacement in the near future.  It is an evidence-based and comprehensive review of hormone replacement therapy in menopause.  As you will read, it was written by a task force of 21 national experts in the field of obstetrics and gynecology.  I believe this report helps clear up some of the controversies which began after the WHI study in 2002.  This WHI study was very controversial and certainly stirred up a hornet's nest in this country in regards to hormonal treatment of menopause with estrogen or estrogen/progesterone combinations.  I am sure it scared millions of women, and many of those women discontinued the estrogen and estrogen/progesterone combinations they were on.  I believe this is a monumental report on hormone replacement therapy.  You can draw your own conclusions from reading the report, but my take on it is very favorable for offering menopausal women the option to take replacement therapy.  No one should be forced to take any drug.  Recommendations by one's own physician to take hormone replacement therapy should be backed by evidence-based and proven safety.  This report certainly helps.  Doc