Women who go through early menopause and are unable to have children have been given fresh hope after scientists found a way of restarting ovaries.
The study could pave the way for women to one day conceive even though they have gone through the menopause at an early age. Read the rest of this entry »
Results from one of the most exciting infertility trials were just published today.
When women are given their treatment options, we usually say, try fertility pills with insemination for 3 months then move to fertility shots with insemination for 3 months then go to IVF. We all know that IVF has the highest success rates.
The FASTT Trial was designed to evaluate whether women should skip the shots with insemination phase of treatment and go right to IVF.
Brilliant.
The researchers found that the women who went right to IVF after not getting pregnant with fertility pills and IUI had an increased pregnancy rate compared with the conventional arm of treatment
(pills–> shots –>IVF). Not only were the pregnancy rates much higher in the IVF group (as expected) but the women who were in the accelerated treatment group were pregnant 3 months earlier.
Skipping the fertility shots with IUI treatment option and going to IVF also showed to be cost effective. Average charges per delivery were $9,800 lower in the accelerated arm compared to conventional treatment. The observed incremental difference was a savings of $2,624 per couple for accelerated treatment. Read the rest of this entry »
For those of you who haven’t heard the story yet, there is a 70 year old woman who gave birth 18 months ago through IVF. She is reportedly dying from complications related to the pregnancy. News also just broke that a 66 year old woman became the oldest woman to have triplets. Why would I talk about these stories? I’m not supporting pregnancy at age 66 or 70 but these stories show that older women don’t stop wanting to become moms just because they’re old. Reports have emerged that the 66 year old woman had been trying to conceive for 44 years!
Lesson #1: They didn’t use their own eggs. Why would this be important to know? Well there’s a woman in her 30s out there whose Mom just called her up and said, Read the rest of this entry »
In February, I wrote an article about how air pollution may increase your risk of miscarriage:
http://draimee.org/high-amount-of-pollution-increase-in-miscarriage-risk/
I want you to know about a recent study which has shown that women exposed to air pollution have a significantly lower chance of pregnancy. You can see a nice summary of the study here:
http://www.themedguru.com/20100513/newsfeature/air-pollution-linked-ivf-failure-study-86135116.html
After reading the published study in Human Reproduction and the news coverage, this is what I think women and men going through IVF should know:
1. The quality of air in the embryo lab makes a big difference. Ask the lab that you are using what they are doing to make sure that their air is of great quality. Make sure the lab you are going to is using a HEPA air filtration system. Ask about the quality assurance and controls that are used to make sure that the air quality during your cycle is ideal. Read the rest of this entry »
As if going through an IVF cycle isn’t daunting enough, couples are often overwhelmed by the price tag associated with a procedure that isn’t guaranteed. This is why many insurance companies are hesitant to cover IVF.
Imagine going to a surgeon to have your appendix taken out and the surgeon says, “Well, there’s a 50% chance that I won’t be able successfully remove your appendix.”
When a patient goes through IVF treatment, depending on the fertility challenge, the success rate may be as high as 80% or as low as 5%. There are no guarantees. That’s what makes paying for IVF so frustrating.
The sound of having a sort of cash back guarantee is very enticing but this what you should know:
1. If you’re young and have a good fertility prognosis, you should get pregnant in your first or second fresh IVF cycle. So paying up front for several cycles for a “money back guarantee” only benefits the clinic. Read the rest of this entry »
Many of us have seen the recent headlines regarding the drop in birth rates in 2008 among women in their teens, twenties, and thirties. What caught everyone’s attention was that the 40-to-44 age bracket saw a 4 percent increase in birth rate.
For those of us in the fertility world – this wasn’t a surprise at all.
My average patient is 39 years old. Most of my patients doing IVF are 39 and older. They are doing IVF because they don’t have time to wait for the economy to pick-up. Read the rest of this entry »
Requests for gender selection are not uncommon. What does this involve? It usually involves IVF. The embryos are then biopsied in order to determine whether the embryo is a girl embryo or a boy embryo (this procedure is called PGD or preimplantation genetic diagnosis). This is what you should ask yourself:
I found this great article on how to choose an egg donor. I’m sharing it here. It is written by Gail Sexton Anderson from www.donorconcierge.com
Do’s and Don’ts of Donor Selection
Choosing an egg donor is one of the most challenging decisions you will ever make. Gail’s best advice—offered after over 12 years of experience—is to look for someone you like on a personal level, rather than someone who looks just like either intended parent. Look for someone to whom you feel drawn, someone who feels “familiar.” Read the rest of this entry »
When choosing an infertility treatment option, your doctor may decide that you should consider taking fertility shots. You can take fertility shots in preparation for an IUI (intrauterine insemination) or in preparation for IVF (in vitro fertilization). Depending on the type of treatment regimen you and your doctor choose, you could end up giving yourself over 120 shots!
That’s no fun.
Good news is coming our way. It has already come to Europe. Elanova, is a new fertility drug Read the rest of this entry »
Patients are always asking me, “Can I continue to run everyday while undergoing infertility treatment?”
It isn’t unusual for a patient to say, “My Mom thinks that the reason why I’m not getting pregnant is because I exercise too much, is she right?”
This is what we know: Women who exercise most days of the week have been shown to be 3 times more likely to have fertility problems than inactive women. Read the rest of this entry »
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