Dr. Walter K. Townson MD

Use of non-aspirin anti-inflammatory painkillers may increase the risk of miscarriages in women, according to a new study published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal. This new study is large with more than 52,000 pregnant women from Canada. The study results show that women who had...

A new study has shown that asthma treatment may not actually increase the risk of birth defects as generally thought. This is reassuring news for many pregnant women who have asthma and need treatment. There was a very mild increase in the risk of rare birth defects in women who took the medication...

What is a mucus plug?A mucus plug is a thick mucus that seals the cervical canal. It is also known as the cervical mucus plug. The cervix produces a jelly-like substance to keep the area protected and moist during pregnancy. This substance builds up, which creates a plug of mucus. It serves as a...

When a physician suspects that a patient may have breast cancer, they will likely call for a biopsy to be done in order to make an exact diagnosis and begin the prognosis stage. In order to do a biopsy tissue, cells, or lumps must be removed from the breast and sent to the lab in order to be tested....

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has authorized the use of a direct-to-consumer (DTC) test for BRCA1/BRCA2 genetic mutations. Although it is not the first DTC test available on the US marketplace, it is the first one designed to specifically test for BRCA mutations.“Being the first and...

A study published in the journal, Sleep, has shown that too much or too little sleep during pregnancy may increase the risk of high blood pressure and related complications during pregnancy. High blood pressure induced by pregnancy is a symptom of preeclampsia, which later increases the risk of...