Healthcare specialists at Missouri Center for Reproductive Medicine understand the journey toward fertility can be an emotional one for many couples. It's certainly a different kind of hardship when desired pregnancies don't happen as planned.
From the MCRM facility in Chesterfield led by medical director Dr. Peter Ahlering, state-of-the-art fertility care and advanced reproductive treatments are offered through sophisticated technologies. Dr. Mira Aubuchon is a board-certified reproductive endocrinologist at MCRM, and physician assistant Ceara Barmeier rounds out the medical staff.
"It's about comprehensive, compassionate and personalized fertility treatment options," Dr. Ahlering says.
Oftentimes, it's important to ensure that women's 'biological clocks' are still ticking when and how they should be. In the last few years, Dr. Ahlering says he and the MCRM staff steadily have seen benefits of proactively evaluating fertility potential during regular annual exams, even at ages as young as 28 years.
"Early signs of diminishing ovarian reserves often can be caught through fertility screenings during the regular appointments women schedule with their OBGYNs to refill birth control pills," he says. "If young ladies approaching 30 years of age think they may be at all interested in having babies in the future, it's helpful to start having periodic assessments. We've seen up to 15 percent of women younger than 30 not knowing they may be facing future egg-related challenges."
MCRM is the only fertility center throughout the Midwest to offer Sperm Nanobead Selection, a new innovative technique for high-quality sperm selection. In fact, they pioneered the technique in 2015. Other advancements there include the EmbryoScope time-lapse incubator system and on-site male DNA Fragmentation testing.
MCRM’s lab is Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments-certified and is also an ISO-certified “clean-lab” in reproductive medicine, Dr. Aubuchon adds.
Founded in 2013, the center provides new beginnings with happy endings for those struggling with infertility.
Dr. Ahlering says everyone has four basic fertility treatment options available: wait patiently after initial evaluations, use ovulation induction through pills or injections, employ artificial or intrauterine insemination or make use of in-vitro fertilization.
"IVF is often the best course of action for those who have had multiple miscarriages, endometriosis, tubal factors, fewer presumed eggs in reserve, or those using an egg donor or surrogate. It's also often the most helpful for couples who both have combined fertility challenges," Dr. Ahlering says.
MCRM fertility coaches can assist with questions about nutrition and fitness strategies, as well as vitamin supplements, acupuncture benefits, third-party reproductive options, same-sex family building, alcohol usage, smoking and the spectrum of infertility patient support.
"When patients meet with our reproductive specialists to learn about fertility care options, the first steps involve an initial consultation plus usually some basic blood work and possibly an ultrasound or semen analysis," Dr. Aubuchon says.
MCRM reports annual success rates about various treatments and has had especially good results through the Nanobead-assisted technique.
"We look forward to assisting you in bringing your dreams to life," Ceara says.
In that regard, egg retrieval processes for this month's batched "IVF Cycle Week" begin on Aug. 13 at the MCRM Fertility Education and Conference Center in Chesterfield.
17300 N. Outer 40 Road, Suite 101, Chesterfield, Missouri, 636.778.9899, MCRMFertility.com