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Abstract can be viewed in PDF document. / Thesis (M.Med.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2010.

Endometriosis or the "career woman's disease" is a puzzling disease affecting women in their reproductive years. Research on endometriosis has focussed on aspects such as the personality characteristics of sufferers and its correlation with infertility (Venter, 1980). As yet, the experiential world of endometriosis sufferers and the relationships which are influenced by their disease have received little attention (Weinstein, 1987). Furthermore, endometriosis is construed as a physical disorder which is medically diagnosed and medically treated. As such, the epistemology surrounding the term "endometriosis" is an adherent to a largely non-contextual, non-systemic and intrinsically mechanistic biomedical model (Bogdan, 1984; Schwartz, 1982). By using an ecosystemic epistemology, this dissertation will attempt to describe the unique experiential world of the afflicted woman in terms of her coping strategies in dealing with endometriosis and to formulate a description of the interactional patterns between herself and significant others directly influenced by her disease. / Psychology / M.A. (Clinical Psychology)

published_or_final_version / Obstetrics and Gynaecology / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / abstract / Physiology / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

The management of advanced cervical and ovarian cancers remains a significant challenge as many women fail to respond to recommended therapy, resulting in disease progression and ultimately patient death. Because of tumour heterogeneity, it is rare for all cancers of a particular type to respond to a specific therapy. Many patients therefore receive treatment from which they derive little or no benefit, leading to increased morbidity and costs. A marker that could rapidly predict disease outcome would clearly be beneficial in allowing the administration of tailored therapy while reducing toxicity and cost. Novel functional imaging techniques have the ability to characterise biological tissues and non-invasively integrate physical and metabolic information. These include diffusion weighted MRI (DW-MRI), which is particularly sensitive to the microscopic motion of water molecules and changes in tissue cellularity, as well as dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI (DCE-MRI) which can assess tumour vascular characteristics during the passage of a paramagnetic contrast agent through tissues. Both imaging techniques have demonstrated potential as biomarkers of tumour response in various malignancies such as brain tumours, but have not been fully explored in gynaecological cancers.

Copies of author's previously published articles inserted. / Bibliography: leaves 187-209. / xiii, 209 leaves : / Title page, contents and abstract only. The complete thesis in print form is available from the University Library. / Documents the establishment of a reproducible model of carcinoma implanted into the abdominal wall of an immunocompetent Dark agouli rat to study the relationship between laparoscopy and the development of port site metastases. / Thesis (M.D.)--University of Adelaide, Dept. of Surgery, 1998?

Graduation date: 1995

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2006. / Title from first page of PDF file. Includes bibliographical references (p. 71-87).

published_or_final_version / Physiology / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy