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Santa Monica Expands Services to Meet
Women’s Health Needs
When UCLA Medical Center, Santa Monica first
opened more than 85 years ago as a small,
private facility known as Santa Monica Hospital,
quality maternity care was among its key
offerings. Today, UCLA has expanded its
women’s services in Santa Monica with a new
office on 16th Street that offers comprehensive
care, ranging from routine primary and
preventive care to medical and surgical
management of all gynecological issues.
“We are involved in all facets of obstetrical and
gynecological care in Santa Monica, and we’re
continuing to align and expand our practice
to build even stronger ties to a very diverse
community,” says William A. Growdon, MD,
a physician in the new OB/GYN office in
Santa Monica.
The full range of preventive and primary-care
services includes well-woman visits, cancer
and STD screening, and management of
chronic disease and high-risk, high-acuity
patients. The latest family planning options
also are available.
With the growth of women’s services in
Santa Monica comes an increased number of
outpatient treatment options. “An increasing
The full range of preventive and primary-care services includes
well-woman visits, cancer and STD screening and management
of chronic disease and high-risk, high-acuity patients.
number of women are requesting treatment
options that can be performed in the office,
with virtually no downtime,” explains UCLA
OB/GYN Aldo Palmieri, MD. Such procedures
include hysteroscopic sterilization, a
permanent birth-control procedure that
uses coil implants to block the fallopian
tubes and prevent future fertilization.
Other commonly performed office procedures
now available include diagnostic hysteroscopy
to identify abnormal bleeding, fibroids and
additional lower genital track problems, and
a specialized loop electrosurgical excision
procedure (LEEP) to treat precancerous
cervical disease.
Santa Monica’s physicians also specialize in
minimally invasive surgeries; more than 90
percent of hysterectomies at the hospital are
minimally invasive, compared with 20-to-
30 percent nationally. “Many other types of
surgeries are now performed as outpatient
surgeries,” says UCLA OB/GYN Jessica Hsu,
MD. “Benign ovarian tumors, uterine fibroids
and ectopic pregnancies have been treated
in the past with a large incision and several
days in the hospital. Now, the surgeries
are routinely performed by laparoscopic
approaches with a minimally invasive, tiny
incision. The patient goes home the same
day and recovers faster.”
For more information about UCLA’s
OB/GYN office in Santa Monica, go to:
obgyn.ucla.edu/santamonica Vital Signs Spring 2013 Vol. 58
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