5 Tips for Choosing an Infertility Clinic

It’s overwhelming when you can’t get pregnant naturally and need to choose an infertility clinic! Here are five tips to help guide you towards the right fertility specialist…

And remember: the reported numbers of successful pregnancies aren’t necessarily what they seem.

Dr. John Rapisarda of the Fertility Centers of Illinois – one of the nation’s leading infertility treatment centers – explains that physicians and clinics have different criteria that limit entry into their IVF programs. More restrictive criteria leads to higher pregnancy rates, because women with the best prognosis are eligible for fertility treatments. “This may then limit access to services for some couples who are less likely to get pregnant, making it difficult to directly compare statistics between programs,” says Dr Rapisarda.

So, don’t be misled by pregnancy statistics, rates of in vitro pregnancy, or numbers of babies born when you’re choosing an infertility clinic. Click on The Complete Guide to IVF: An Inside View of Fertility Clinics and Treatments by Kate Brian for more info, and read on for five tips for choosing an infertility clinic…

5 Tips for Choosing an Infertility Clinic

Reports indicate that success rates at the clinic responsible for the recent octuplets’ birth were significantly below the national average. This infertility clinic was unable to treat patients over the age of 35. To increase the chances of conception, the doctor allegedly implanted six embryos –more than twice the recommended amount. Other fertility clinics are known to report above average success rates, yet place specific guidelines on the difficulty and type of patients they will accept.

As a result, fertility experts urge patients not to focus on conception, pregnancy, and delivery numbers alone, as some statistics may be misleading.

1. High Order Multiples: Like the octuplets case, if a clinic reports an elevated number of high-order multiple births, it may suggest that the program is transferring more embryos in order to maintain a competitive success rate.

2. Success of Cryo-Embryo Transfers: A high rate of success reflects an excellent embryology lab that can culture and store embryos and improve the overall cycle efficiency from a single retrieval. Ideally, success rates should be no more than 10-15% lower than fresh transfer rates.

3. Egg Donor Success Rates: When you’re choosing an infertility clinic, avoid a fertility program with low egg donor success rates. This is a great equalizer as it is the most controlled group going through IVF. When trying to evaluate a program, it eliminates other variables such as different selection and cancellation criteria.

4. Size of Fertility Practice:  A smaller practice often cannot offer all of the cutting edge services or perform them as well as a larger practice, where the physicians and embryologists continually face a larger variety of the most challenging cases that enable them to gain added expertise and maintain their skills.

5. Infertility Services Offered: For the absolute best chance at conception, ensure that the program offers all of the latest techniques, such as PGD (Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis) and Third Party Reproduction.  

If you have any questions or tips for choosing an infertility clinic, please comment below!

This information was provided by The Fertility Centers of Illinois – one of the nation’s leading infertility treatment centers.