Fady Sharara, M.D., Contributes to Global Understanding of Fertility Breakthroughs at ASRM
The world’s most influential scientists and fertility specialists convened in Salt Lake City last month with one goal—to help men and women find a faster, more efficient path to pregnancy. Our medical director and reproductive endocrinologist, Dr. Fady Sharara, did more than just attend. He was a voice for underserved populations and men and women with the most challenging infertility cases. We are especially proud of the roundtable discussion he led: Racial Disparities in Assisted Reproductive Technology.
The American Society for Reproductive Medicine’s 2016 Scientific Congress and Expo brought together fertility specialists, embryologists, andrologists, nurses, geneticists and mental health professionals to improve protocols and share best practices. `
Dr. Sharara was honored to have multiple research projects accepted in what is called oral and poster presentations. This format gives his peers the opportunity to view the findings and seek his input, and that of his co-authors, during the conference.
Today’s cutting-edge research and tomorrow’s fertility breakthroughs
Preliminary Results for Aneuploidy Screening in South Asian Women Compared to Caucasians Undergoing PGS
In this study presented as an oral abstract, our Virginia fertility center specialist found that, compared with Caucasian women, young South Asian women have a lower chance at getting pregnant—even with five-day embryos genetically tested using PGS. The study is in progress, so Dr. Sharara will now examine the results and determine why this trend emerged, and whether frozen embryo transfer (rather than fresh) will improve outcomes.
Potential Impact of the CAP-Score™ on Clinical Pregnancy and Medical Costs in Couples with Unexplained Infertility
Dr. Sharara participated in research into a better, more targeted method of sperm capacitation to help address male factor infertility, which accounts for up to half of all cases. Like a woman’s score after ovarian reserve testing, a CAP-Score™ assigns a number that patients and their physicians can use to plan for 1) natural conception 2) IUI or 3) move directly to IVF + ICSI if the score is low.
Hatch-All Technique Improves Embryo Development and Pregnancy Outcome
In the IVF lab, we oftentimes use a laser to prepare an opening for sperm to easily fertilize the egg. What if we used this technique every time? This study concluded that helping the process along with lasers led to more and better quality embryos.
Characterizing HCG Levels at Different Time Points during Ovarian Stimulation for ART using Mono-HP-HMG and Mixed FSH-HP-HMG
This first-of-its-kind study looks at the HCG levels during the first part of an IVF cycle. HCG is the hormone that a pregnancy test detects, and this research may help design a new medication protocol that can be tweaked depending on a woman’s age, BMI and natural and artificial hormone levels.
If you are trying to get pregnant and hoping for a fertility breakthrough of your own, please contact us at our Virginia fertility center.