Diagnosis

Wading through the complicated information about infertility treatment can be almost as stressful as the diagnosis itself. If you’re weighing the pros and cons of infertility treatment and trying to decide what to do, Oregon Reproductive Medicine can help.

A diagnosis is only the first step in considering whether or not to proceed with treatment. Other things to consider are: the treatment options and processes, comprehensive financial and insurance information, success rate statistics, and in-depth information about how each treatment is performed. We encourage you to consider everything and feel free to ask questions as you work toward a conclusion about what to do after unsuccessful attempts at conceiving a child.

If you decide to proceed with Oregon Reproductive Medicine the first step is to figure out what the problem, if any, is. One of the first things a specially trained reproductive health care team will do is thoroughly assess each patient’s health. In addition to looking at the couple’s history, a series of tests initially determines whether or not all the integral parts of each partner’s reproductive system are working properly. The assessments include: uterus, fallopian tubes, ovaries, cervix, and the sperm quantity and quality for the male partner. Once the team has diagnosed the problem (if any), we then discuss treatment options with the couple — helping them take an active role in the decision-making process about their health care choices.

Once all the tests have been completed and a couple decides to pursue treatment, it’s time to enhance chances of conception. Depending on diagnosis, we will increase the number of eggs that are released from the ovaries starting first with oral medications and then moving to injectable medications if oral medications were unsuccessful. If these more simple forms of treatment do not work (or they are not suitable for the diagnosis), we must move to the next levels of treatment: intrauterine insemination (IUI) or in vitro fertilization (IVF).