Helena Teede Pcos Announcement Renames PCOS to PMOS After 14 Years
Helena Teede pcos announcement: polycystic ovary syndrome has been renamed polyendocrine metabolic ovarian syndrome after 14 years of global collaboration. The change was published in the Lancet and announced at the European Congress of Endocrinology in Prague on Tuesday.
The new name was driven by Helena Teede, an endocrinologist and director of Melbourne’s Monash Centre for Health Research & Implementation. She said the old term could mislead patients and doctors, including by suggesting cysts that are not part of the condition.
Helena Teede in Prague
Teede said, “There are no abnormal cysts in PCOS.” She also said the new wording “moves away from the incorrect focus on cysts … to recognising this is a much broader condition.”
The renaming followed work by international societies and patient groups across six continents. The condition was named in 1935, when doctors initially thought of it as a disease of the ovaries.
Maddy Mavrikis diagnosis
Maddy Mavrikis was diagnosed with PCOS at 15. She said, “I never had – and still don’t have – cysts on my ovaries, so never really understood why I was diagnosed with ‘polycystic ovaries’.”
She was first told by her GP that she would probably never have children, before later learning that was not true. A blood test showed high levels of androgens, and a doctor also found insulin resistance.
The condition is estimated to affect 170 million women worldwide, or one in eight women. The article says insulin resistance affects about 85% of women with PCOS, which helps explain why the new name emphasizes metabolism as well as reproduction.
PMOS after 14 years
The change is intended to reduce confusion linked to the old term and better reflect effects on reproduction, metabolism, diabetes risk and cardiovascular disease. For patients who have been told the diagnosis means ovarian cysts, the new term gives doctors a different way to explain the condition without changing the underlying illness.
