N E LIFE WE CELEBRATE THE GROUNDBREAKING MEDICAL INNOVATIONS THAT HAVE REVOLUTIONISED WOMEN'S LIVES AND CHANGED SOCIETY FOREVER 1 THE TAMPON Egy tian wo en avoured so ened papyrus to stem the monthly menstrual flow whi e reek adies used int wra ed round a small piece of wood. It wasn't until the late 1920s that Earle Haas adapted a cotton surgical plug with two concentric cardboard tubes for easy insertion. 'Tampon' is the French word for plug. i ing his rst atent or the cata enia enstrua device in the in the revolutionary applicator waved goodbye to woo a er s onges and vegetab e bres ateria s that had a been used revious y. Ear e died aged in . 2 THE EPIDURAL Up to 35% of women in UK hospitals have an epidural while giving birth. Their relief from labour pains is all down to one an r ohn onica an anaesthesio ogist and ro essiona wrest er who was ooking out or the we being o his wife in the 1930s. er a ost dying ro co ications with anaesthesia during the birth of their rst chi d the second ti e around onica b ocked his wi es nerve roots eading to her uterus and lower body. The procedure is u y effective in so e o births. 3 BIRTH CONTROL PILL he contrace tive i the ewe in the crown of the women's iberation ove ent was introduced in the swinging 60s and allowed women greater sexua reedo . eve o ed by erican bio ogist r regory incus the i works by su ressing ovu ation. Introduced in the UK on the NHS in initia y or arried wo en on y today more than three and a half million women take a version o the co bined i with a quarter of the nation using it as their preferred method of contraception. E ergency contrace tion such as the orning-a er i or ost-coita coi is a so a huge breakthrough as it revents regnancy a er un rotected sex. Although some campaign groups have suggested the orning-a er i encourages ro iscuity in cases o ra e or assau t its value is undeniable. CERVICAL SCREENING n r eorge a anico aou discovered cells in the cervix change in appearance before they become cancerous. ervica screening or the s ear test as it used to be ca ed checks or any abnor a signs in cells collected from the cervix. s re-cancerous ce s can take u to years to deve o ore than o cases can be treated if the disease is detected early enough. or this reason the routine check is considered the ost effective cancer screening technique ever discovered. Since the NHS cervical screening programme was aunched in the s the nu ber o cervical cancer cases has decreased by about each year. 5 BREAST CANCER SCREENING a ogra is an -ray i age o the breast that is used to check or signs o breast cancer the ost co on y diagnosed cancer in wo en. n the Forrest Report recommended the introduction of an NHS breast screening rogra e offering a ogra hy once every three years to all women aged between and . E N E NE E E E - E M E E N E . N N - E M E N 136 | AUGUST 2017 E N MEN M E n the wor ds rst nationa breast screening programme was launched in Eng and and ore than wo en between the ages o and were invited for screening. It has been estimated that if o e igib e wo en attended screening there would be a 25% reduction in breast cancer mortality rates in the women invited. The breast screening age range in the UK now inc udes a wo en aged to . n Eng and the age range is being extended even urther in tria s. n - a tota o . i ion wo en aged and over were screened within the programme. 6 INTRAUTERINE DEVICE (COIL) There is not much evidence of early use o intrauterine devices a ong-ter contrace tive inserted into the uterus but it is be ieved the ancient reeks ay have developed a rudimentary version. he rst odern was designed by r ichard ichter in a though it took a urther years unti it was acce ted as a edica y sa e and effective method of contraception. en -sha ed the device contains either co er or evonorgestre and is inserted into the uterus. It is the most wide y-used or o reversib e contrace tion in the wor d with i ion users. n o wo an arried or in ong-ter re ationshi s g oba y used an . It has a failure rate of less than 1%. nce re oved even a er ong-ter use erti ity uick y returns to normal. EM E N E N N