RMSCVA offers all levels of care from the simplest to the most complex. Our fertility specialists begin with a complete evaluation of both partners. The results of these fertility tests will help the physicians decide which treatment is most appropriate for each individual couple. Many factors are considered in this decision including personal circumstances, cost, and the likelihood of pregnancy and delivery. You and your doctor will discuss the best options to decide which one you prefer.
There are a variety of infertility treatments available today to help couples have children. Most couples who come to see us will have a successful outcome-the baby they desire. Determining the most effective treatment sometimes takes a number of months as we see how couples respond to a chosen treatment and individualizing care.
The news media often presents stories on the high technology of IVF and associated procedures. Very rarely, if ever, will you see a story about the millions of women who became pregnant with simple oral medications such as Clomid, fertility surgeries, or other common and simpler treatments. IVF enables over a hundred thousand couples each year, including those with severe male factor infertility, to have healthy genetically related children, but over a million U.S. couples per year conceive with much simpler treatments.
The Reproductive Medicine and Surgery Center of Virginia offers all the most cost-effective treatments for infertility from simple and cheap oral medications such as letrozole and Clomid, to more complicated and expensive injectable medications such as Gonal-F, Follistim, or Menopur combined with IUI, to IVF and all of the potential associated micromanipulation procedures such as intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), preimplantation genetic screening (PGS), and other procedures such as egg banking for future fertility.
Our fertility sub-specialists have undergone the most extensive advanced training in reproductive endocrinology and infertility and have attained their specialty and sub-specialty board certifications. There are approximately 500 practicing board certified reproductive endocrinologists, infertility specialists in the United States. Our region is very fortunate to have 3 of them in Charlottesville and they are all at RMSCVA.
Some conditions causing infertility often have a surgical solution. For example, if the fallopian tubes are blocked, as shown in the HSG (a hysterosalpingogram is a pelvic x-ray), laparoscopic surgery is the treatment of choice. Surgery on the reproductive organs is extremely delicate and in most cases should only be attempted by a trained fertility surgeon. During their training, our fertility specialists conducted hundreds of supervised surgeries to hone their surgical skills. Our fertility specialists teach other physicians laparoscopic surgery techniques at the University of Virginia Obstetrics and Gynecology Residency Program. Please see our tubal reversal pages for the specific surgery for women who have had their “tubes tied.” Women come from all over the United States for this particularly specialized microscopic surgery performed at RMSCVA.