Ivf clinic recommendations

[Bluebells1983]

Hi,

I am starting to consider going down the ivf route later this year and just would like some advice/recommendations on clinics.

I am based in Belfast and have had a number of investigations with in ovo fertility clinic who have been good but would also be open to going further afield if it would increase our chances of sucess with the issues we are dealing with.

I am 38, have high amh (48) and good afc (20). But also know this puts me at risk of ohss which makes me a bit nervous. Husband has some sperm issues, some of which we have improved recently but count is still borderline low and morphology is pretty low. Also have issues with high dna frag at 47%. He is currently on antibiotics from Dr ramsay to hopefully bring this down and improve the other parameters.

If we need to proceed to ivf, do you think it is better staying local or are some of the overseas clinics more advanced in dealing with high amh and mfi issues? I have seen people taking about gennet, serum and a few in Poland too. I'd be happy to travel if thought it would increase chances and I know a lot of them are cheaper too, though maybe with travel/accom costs it doesn't make much difference? My Belfast clinic is suggesting icsi route, even with the high dna frag, and saying that there is no real way of predicting success without just giving it a go.

Grateful for any advice x

Hi @Bluebells1983 I would definitely try get your frag down further. For my 1st round of IVF my DH frag was 52% and all embryos collapsed on day 4-5 indicating male issue. Since he got his frag down to 23% we’ve managed to create blasts (however now have an egg quality issue).

Has Dr Ramsey suggested surgical sperm extraction to you if frag isn’t low enough? As if so this would inform my decision as to where to go - some clinics don’t offer it. Also you will then both be under sedation so need to look at whether you would be better close to home so someone can collect you both and also with high AMH if you would be happier to be close to home in case you did develop OHSS.

For me I would consider all these things before making a decision.

Thanks for this. Yeah we are in the middle of trying to improve the dna frag, need to get it checked again in 6 weeks. He seems hopeful that the antibiotics will help. He did mention the surgical sperm retrieval but only if the antibiotics dont help.

Thanks for your help with this, useful points to consider.

Hi @Bluebells1983 if you are looking for treatment abroad or even in the UK then please feel free to pm me, I'm a Patients Coordinator with a number of different clinics and will be happy to assist you free of charge.

I have read that serum in Athens is one of the best.

Hi @Bluebells1983, I have nothing useful to add really, but I'm interested to see what people say. We're in a similar situation numbers wise to you.