07-05-2005 Portland, Ore.
Oregon Health & Science University Fertility Consultants has been named one of the top 10 fertility centers in the United States by the national magazine Child.
"Anytime we are recognized on a national scale, it is an honor. It is especially an honor because OHSU Fertility Consultants has been very successful helping women and couples who have the more difficult issues," said Kenneth Burry, M.D., professor of obstetrics and gynecology in the OHSU School of Medicine. OHSU Fertility Consultants has been under his direction since it was established in 1982.
"The OHSU Fertility Consultants, which is a member of the OHSU Center for Women's Health, is not just one of the best for clinical care -- it is actively creating the next possibilities for fertility through its exceptional research. We offer options that no other center in the Northwest, and in some cases in the West, can even imagine. Even better, we do it with compassion and exceptional care," said Joanna Cain, M.D., director of the Center for Women's Health and chairwoman of obstetrics and gynecology, OHSU School of Medicine.
The OHSU Fertility Consultants was No. 3 on the 10 best list by Child magazine. (The entire list is in the attached Child magazine news release.)
OHSU Fertility Consultants has achieved many firsts:
* First fertility program in Oregon.
* First successful in vitro fertilization (IVF) and gamete intrafallopian transfer (GIFT) program in the Pacific Northwest, and first to have IVF births in Oregon.
* First in the state to develop and offer intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), extended embryo culture, in vitro maturation and preimplantation diagnosis to patients.
* First cryopreserved embryo pregnancy in the Northwest.
* One of the first programs in the country to offer blastocyst culture, allowing OHSU to be one of the first preimplantation genetic diagnosis programs on the West Coast.
* First fertility program on the West Coast to have successfully frozen human eggs that resulted in the birth of a baby boy.
OHSU Fertility Consultants receives 17,000 patient visits a year. It offers a wide range of services, including patient egg donor services, embryo freezing, donor insemination, endometriosis treatment, treatment for menopause disorders, surrogacy medical care and psychological counseling for optimal care for each patient. It also has the largest donor egg program in the Northwest.
The program also is supported by advanced research in fertility problems. OHSU scientists recently were successful in achieving the first primate pregnancy from transplanted, primate ovarian tissue. It is hoped this breakthrough will be applicable in preserving the reproductive potential of cancer survivors in the near future.