An assessment of sociodemographic factors and family planning practices in Jamnagar, Gujarat, India: a cross sectional study

Background: India was the first country in the world to launch a National Family Planning Programme in 1952. It was purely a demographic programme with the sole objective of reducing the birth rate to stabilize the population. As per 2011 census population increased with the growth rate of 17.7%. Thus even after 63 years of programme & many more new advances & updates in programme, India could not reach its target of at least 60% of couple protection rate. So there would be some definite factors prohibiting its use.Methods: A cross section study of 450 reproductive age group women was conducted to find out the factors of unmet need of contraception & socio demographic profile.Results: In present study couple protection rate was 57.11%, majority being permanent sterilization. The selection of contraception was influenced by her husband in 43.24% & by mother-in-law in 62.16%.Conclusions: The study revealed that almost half of the couple population was using the contraception that included temporary as well as permanent methods of contraception

Prospective study of sequential volumetric changes of parotid gland in early oropharyngeal carcinoma patients treated by intensity-modulated radiation therapy: An institutional experience

Aims and Objectives: During course of radiation therapy, anatomical variations occur risking overdose of parotid gland. We tried to quantify volume of parotid gland and mean dose to parotid gland after every 10 fractions (#). Materials and Methods: We conducted the prospective study from July 2016 to May 2017 in 25 patients of early-stage oropharyngeal carcinoma. Patients had Karnofsy Performance Score of 80–100, median age was 54 years, and 18 patients were males. Patients were planned with intensity-modulated radiation therapy planning with dose as 66 Gy/30# to planning target volume (PTV) including primary and 54 Gy/30# to PTV-nodal including elective neck irradiation. After each 10#, replanning was done, and variations in parotid volume were studied including Dmean(mean dose to parotids) and D50(the dose delivered to 50% of volume). Other tumor characteristic like PTV of primary was also assessed and minimum PTV volume covered by 95% isodose line was kept as 95%. Results: Average parotid volumes decreased by the mean value of 10% and 6% for the left and right parotids, respectively, and PTV of primary target decreased by mean of 13%. The difference in Dmeandoses to parotid glands was 32% and 42% and difference in D50dose was 30% and 35% on the left and right side, respectively. Conclusions: The parotid volumes differ considerably during adaptive planning done after every ten fractions. These differences in parotid volumes and doses received to parotid glands play a significant role in the risk of xerostomia observed during later follow-up