Infertility Treatment Challenges

 As a starting point, understanding the causes and prognosis of infertility can be a complicated process. In fact, determining the most appropriate diagnostic tools and tests are critical to getting you the best result (your baby) as quickly as possible.

Choosing among several treatment options can be daunting and have a dramatic impact both the cost of fertility treatment and the outcome. Understanding the complexity, relative success rates, and risks associated with various treatment alternatives are critical factors for patients. Selection of qualified clinical practices, scheduling frequent monitoring appointments, and the relative quality and outcomes associated with individual clinicians contribute to the overall probability of success for each patient.

Pharmaceuticals are an essential component of the treatment process and can typically represent up to a third of the total IUI and IVF prices. Considerations include injection training for both partners; frequent subcutaneous or intramuscular injections; precise attention to exact dosages and proper storage and disposal of needles, syringes, and infertility medications.

The field of infertility has evolved rapidly over the past 30 years, and continues to experience scientific breakthroughs. These technologies involve significant costs and not all have passed rigorous scientific scrutiny to validate the appropriateness of the procedure. Some tests or procedures have been performed on patients (e.g., Pre-Implantation Genetic Screening) without proven benefit to the patient as established by the scientific literature and practice guidelines of professional medical societies.

The costs of Advanced Reproductive Technologies (ART) can range upwards of $25,000 per IVF treatment cycle, including infertility medications. Many patients may require multiple cycles in order to have a baby. As the IVF cost is considerable and often challenging to arrange, some patients opt for less expensive, riskier treatments with poorer outcomes.

Selecting the right fertility doctor is critical. Infertility services are at times performed by practitioners who have not had specialized training and Board Certification in Reproductive Endocrinology. In fact, though many OB/Gyn and family practitioners are well-intentioned, the cost in terms of money, emotions and the real time cost of delaying treatment can be prohibitive. The clinical success rates and expenses can vary widely and should be subject to rigorous credentialing review and monitoring of practice patterns to ensure that safe and effective treatment is delivered to patients.

As in any medical care, complications will sometimes result from fertility treatment. Aside from the possibility of pregnancy failure, other medical complications such as multiple gestations, ovarian hyper-stimulation and high-order multiple births can result from infertility treatment.