Filipa Rafael: Saying No to an IVF Add-On Should Not Feel as Hard as Giving Up on Having a Baby
Filipa Rafael, Founder and Scientific Director at Fertilidade em Foco (Fertility in Focus), shared a post on LinkedIn about a paper by Kimmee Khan et al. published in Human Reproduction:
“Sunday Paper | My clinical take
Saying no to an IVF add-on should not feel as hard as giving up on having a baby.
But I can understand why it might. When so much is at stake, “what if this was the thing that would have helped?” is a difficult thought to put aside.
A new paper in Human Reproduction looks at that decision from the patients’ side. Researchers held three focus groups with 12 women in the UK who had experienced fertility treatment. Effectiveness mattered most, but so did cost, risk and the possibility of regretting a decision.
This is a small qualitative study, with a largely White, self-selected sample. It cannot tell us whether an add-on works, or how all patients feel. It does give us something worth listening to.
For me, the ambition is a consultation where someone understands what an extra treatment might offer, what remains uncertain, and feels able to decline it without wondering whether she has let herself down.
That would be meaningful progress too.”
Title: Attitude and acceptability of IVF add-ons to improve reproductive outcomes: a focus group qualitative study
Authors: Kimmee Khan, Lily Nicholson, Mayowa Osinibi, Ngawai Moss, Kate Brian, Sarah Norcross, Vasanti Jadva, Bassel H Al Wattar, AFFINITY Study Group
You can read the Full Article in Human Reproduction.
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