Diseases of the female reproductive tract, menstrual and hormonal disorders, contraception and fertility.
Gynaecology is the care of the female reproductive tract across life: puberty and the menstrual cycle, fertility and contraception, infection, pain and benign disease, cancer, the menopause and the breast.
This section starts with normal development and the cycle, then hormones, fertility and contraception, infection and benign disease, the gynaecological cancers, the breast, and finally emergencies, children's gynaecology and sexual violence.
Every topic uses the same layout: a short summary, what you should be able to do afterwards, the mechanism, the clinical picture, tests, treatment and the traps. Doses, thresholds and cut-offs are checked against named guidelines and shown with their source, because guidelines and countries sometimes differ.
Learn gynaecology by the question you ask first: is she pregnant, is she bleeding, is she in pain, or is there a mass? A pregnancy test and a clear description of the bleeding or pain separate most presentations in the first minute.
Learn the numbers that change what you do: the endometrial thickness that triggers sampling, the cervical screening results and what follows each, the CA-125 and adnexal mass features, and the contraception eligibility categories. The check-yourself questions at the end of each topic test them a few days later.
Link gynaecology to obstetrics and endocrinology: amenorrhoea, polycystic ovary syndrome and the menopause are hormone problems, and many pelvic emergencies must be distinguished from pregnancy complications.
The topics below are in teaching order. Each part builds on the one before it.