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What’s in Fertility Fashion? We Choose “Flare” over One-Size-Fits-All IVF Protocols

Fashion Rule #9 from the TLC show What Not to Wear: Do not take hand-me-downs from your mother

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Photo courtesy of Fashionably Austin – photographer Cheryl Bemis. Carolina Herrera Spring 2015 – NY Fashion Week.

The same is true for stimulation protocols. “What’s in” has changed in recent years. Texas Fertility Center always stays current, especially when it comes to IVF research and best practices.

When a TFC fertility specialist designs your IVF protocol, he or she factors in your causes of infertility. This includes your age, weight, health history, ovarian reserve, hormone levels and previous response to gonadotropins.

Are you a poor responder or a high responder?

The goal with IVF is to stimulate the ovaries to produce as many eggs as you can safely develop. IVF success rates oftentimes coincide with the number of retrieved eggs. Low responders tend to have a low ovarian reserve, advanced maternal age (over 37) and/or a history of failed previous IVF treatment. High responders may present with PCOS, have a low BMI, and tend to be younger..

Texas Fertility Center brings leading-edge solutions to our high/low responders, from freeze-all IVF to microdose leuprolide flare. A microflare IVF protocol takes advantage of the fact that Lupron administered early in the cycle (cycle day 2 or 3) gives the ovaries a much needed boost.

Stimulation Protocols in Low Responders

Dr. Kaylen Silverberg, medical director at Texas Fertility Center, presented his findings at StartArt this year. After studying the effectiveness of different IVF protocols, Dr. Silverberg arrived at these conclusions:

  • Definitely effective: donor oocytes
  • Probably effective: microdose flare
  • Possibly effective: GnRH antagonists; recombinant FSH (as opposed to urinary FSH); CC/hMG combination protocols; Letrozole; “Stop” GnRH protocol; assisted hatching; and growth hormone
  • Probably ineffective: extremely high dose gonadotropins; pulsatile gonadotropins; adding LH; and baby aspirin
  • Inconclusive: DHEA and CoQ 10

Finding the right formula for dose and duration of fertility medication can enhance your chances for success, so we constantly evaluate new data and spearhead research about stimulation protocols during IVF. Contact us to learn more about innovations in IVF protocols.

Listen to Dr. Silverberg’s StartArt lecture Stimulation Protocols: High & Low Responders from Fertility Updates.

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