Comments on: Octuplets doctor may have been lulled by past poor success

By: Robin

Robin — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 17:55:14 +0000

Dr. Lee,
Have you seen the interview done by Matt Lauer of Dr. Jeffrey Steinberg?
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/29129331#29136289

He brings still another doctor into this equation, the embryologist. He states that while the ultimate decision to implant six embryos (and remembering that Nadya claims six embryos were implanted each time she became pregnant)was Dr. Kamrava’s, the embryologist is the consulting doctor on the viability of each embryo implanted, the adjective “quality” comes to mind. In last night’s Dateline Nadya stated that her doctor told her that her reproductive system was prematurely aging, that if she wanted to do this, she needed to hurry up.

I’ve read that each cycle the ovaries are hyper-stimulated to produce multiple eggs BUT that there may be few OR many eggs produced each cycle, this does not mean each one is of the quality needed to produce a successful pregnancy.

Since Nadya stated each time six eggs were implanted (and that she was consulted each time it could result in multiple gestations)that would be a total of 36 eggs implanted in her.

That sure doesn’t sound like an aging reproductive system to me.

HOWEVER, in last night’s full Dateline, Nadya claims she had two failed procedures after the twins, one ectopic pregnancy. That would bring the total of all of her procedures to 48 total implanted embryos in one woman! It would also total EIGHT times Nadya had Dr. Kamrava treat her by IVF. Dr. Kamrava CLAIMS that his procedure has eliminated ectopic pregnancies because the embryos are implanted directly into the endometrial lining.

Does any of this make sense?

By: ANNE

ANNE — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 16:59:03 +0000

Thanks for speaking up. It’s disheartening to see what plays out in the MSM and the misapprehension it engenders. You’ve gone a long ways towards clarifying things.

By: IVF-MD

IVF-MD — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 16:45:10 +0000

Ashley, people send me questions and comments through the comments section (as you’ve done) or more individually through Facebook. In general, I answer questions publicly, so that others can benefit from reading the answer.

By: Ashley

Ashley — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 16:28:36 +0000

I came across your site from another IF blog. Do you have a specific time/posting where you answer questions?
Thanks in advance.

By: Amy S

Amy S — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 02:55:50 +0000

So interesting. I think the 2006 stats for this clinic are available online at the link below. When I looked at these I thought they looked abysmal – very happy I’m at a clinic which comes close to or better than the national average. If Ms. Suleman has used this clinic before and really did transfer 6 embies each time and only had singletons and one set of twins maybe she truly believed a high-order multiple pregnancy wasn’t possible.

https://www.sartcorsonline.com/rptCSR_PublicMultYear.aspx?ClinicPKID=2400

By: IVF-MD

IVF-MD — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 00:40:16 +0000

Smart pickup, Larisa. As patients become more savvy and as the internet allows for more transparency, it will be harder for businesses (including medical practices) to get away with relying on a big marketing budget to bring them customers. I am not familiar with anybody reputable even talking about that particular technique. It doesn’t make any sense to me logically either. The lining is so fragile that putting a scope into the uterus at the time of transfer is just asking for failure. I wonder if it’s only done on their patients over 34?

I guess I should share a story as a disclaimer in case I’m accused of bias. A few years ago, a friend of mine pleaded with her infertile coworker to come see me. Her co-worker asked for my brochures. I didn’t have any. So she went to this doctor instead (the one we’re talking about) because he had much slicker marketing materials AND because he claimed to have the unique techniques that only HE knew. I later heard that patient wound up not get pregnant. So my friend was sad and gave me a tip that I should spend more money on nicer brochures. To this day, I still haven’t.

I’m approached by companies on a regular basis offering to teach me how to market my practice. Marketing works. I know that. There are practices which spend over $1,000,000 on it annually. However, it is not working as well as it used to. Smart patients who do their research will eventually benefit as the internet empowers them with the truth. I’ll do my part to contribute.

By: Larisa

Larisa — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 23:35:07 +0000

So I did a little of my own research before getting to your blog. The doctor in question reportedly did a study on “350″ patients – but given his stats over the past 6 years, he hasn’t seen 350 patients. Comments??

http://www.conceiveonline.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=161&Itemid=105