ARGC and CRGH

[Annie0123]

Hello,

Having just had our first failed cycle of IVF with the NHS we are looking for a new clinic. We're looking into ARGC and CRGH and I was wondering if any of you have used them and what your thoughts were?

We've had a mini consultation with CRGH and they sent us the price list. It says just over £8k for basic IVF and just over £9k for ICSI - plus extras. I'm keen to know if anyone has had experience of these 'extras' as we're trying to work out how much we can save.

Any general experiences of either clinic you'd care to share are most welcome - thanks in advance.

Hi @Pinxixc,

I just started my cycle at CRGH after speaking with both ARGH and CRGH. I hesitated a lot between the two clinics.

Both clinics have almost completely opposite approaches, yet both have strong success rates! That goes to say that the field of fertility treatment is highly experimental.

CRGH's explanations made the most sense to me given what I suspected was going to be my issues. Just like you, I didn't think immunes were going to be my biggest issue, while egg quality was most likely going to be. CRGH also does come across as more up to date in terms of treatments and embryology.

ARGH focuses on "Fresh is better than frozen" and does a larger proportion of day 2-3 transfers.
CRGH recommends frozen and day 5 transfers more often, and they seem to be more skilled than ARGH with freezing (higher thawing success rates). That said, they may suggest you to do a lot of other add-ons like PGS, that are also expensive and as unproven as immunes treatment. Also, the issue with day 5 transfers is that sometimes, if you have a low number of embryos to start with, it may not be the answer, and day 2 or 3 transfers might be better.
I hear ARGH are great at maximising the number of eggs retrieved from stimulation, but it's hard to confirm without having done a cycle with them.
There are a lot of different "management styles" in clinics so it's very hard to choose.
Eventually I went with CRGH because they came across as more scientific and more manageable to go through than ARGC in terms of the treatment itself.

Best of luck!

Hi, I am going for my first IVF after having an MC last year followed by being hospitalised caused by an infection. We were told last month that IVF is our only option as the infection post MC has blocked my tubes. I also have Endo. Age 41 with low AMH. We are looking at Lister, ARGC and CRGH. I found this thread the most useful of all threads. Is there any more information anyone can share on their experience on these clinics?

Hi @Londoner3029, thank you very much for sharing your story about ARGH. It is very helpful for me to hear this. Coming from a horrendous well known clinic in London, I was hoping to go to either CRGH or ARGH, did you decide in the end which hospital to receive your treatment ff your unfortunate experience in ARGH?

Hello. My husband and I are looking for a fertility clinic in London for our IVF treatment. I am almost 40 but seems to have no major fertility problems, I just don't have ovulation but don't want to waist time with artificial insemination. Is anyone able to recommend a good fertility clinic? Would be very grateful for any advice. Thanks :)

Hello, and happy new year!

I am also looking to move clinic and researching a few (in London). I wondered if anyone had any recent updates or feedback between ARGC and CRGH please

Hey

Just wondered if anyone had any recent experience with ARGH or CRGH? Due to Covid and no sign of a start date with the NHS am having to go private, thanks

Excuse the typo meant ARGC

@NotSpartacus

I'm at CRGH and currently waiting to find out if it worked. I am vomitous and spotty, which I hope are good signs...

It is expensive. I think on basic IVF price ARGC looks cheaper and some of their extras (eg hysteroscopy) are cheaper too but I think that in practice CRGH generally works out cheaper because they don't routinely do immunes. I think in total, excluding basic initial tests and hysteroscopy it has been around £9k or £10k. That includes assisted hatching (£600) blastocyst culture (£500) and freezing my 3 spares (another £500? I haven't checked). The hysteroscopy was £1800 but I didn't need a separate scratch or dummy transfer, and it was better than having a saline scan with "technical difficulties" (which had happened to me at a different clinic before) and needing to pay for a hysteroscopy on top! So all in I guess around £13k including initial tests (ORT, two consults, SA, DH's HIV test etc).

From what I've read ARGC's approach involves calling patients to tell them to take drug x in 22 minutes and to come in for a blood test in 3 hours. CRGH is more predictable - I had bloods and /or scans booked in for first thing in the morning during stimming and then they called me every afternoon to tell me what dose of the drugs to take that evening. It was tailored, but not unpredictable and I was able to fit it around s demanding client facing job.

I suspect both clinics use a lot of drugs. I was on two stimulation meds, growth hormone and cetrotide (so up to 4 jabs per day). I am now on clexane and progesterone which, if I get pregnant go on for weeks. Drugs have so far been about £2k of the above total, and I was on low doses to start. I got my drugs from Healthcare at Home with whom CRGH have a contract. I suspect you could save money on the drugs if you had time to shop around (and a nearby ASDA or Tesco pharmacy).

All of my appointments have run on time and calls returned promptly. I saw complaints about that side of things before I started and I was worried but they seem to have sorted any issues out.

This is my current experience. They've been great so far

Am thing of starting with one of these two clinics but am 44 and very nervous (first IVF) so I do want to have that bedside manner and care as part of this process. Would anyone recommend one of these clinics to be better at this side of things? I know other clinics are but with lower success rates