Terminology Tuesdays: Trying out the cranberry sauce!

Today I discuss cranberry sauce as well as the American Society of Reproductive Medicine’s definition of experimental.

I don’t like cranberry sauce.  Never have.  Never will.  During this Thanksgiving holiday, I performed an experiment.  If I put the cranberry sauce on my Turkey, will it be palatable to me?  As expected, I didn’t like it.  Not that the homemade cranberry sauce wasn’t good.  It’s just that I don’t like cranberry sauce.

In the infertility world, there are some treatments that are considered experimental.  The American Society of Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) states,

“Procedures (including tests, treatments, or other interventions) for the diagnosis or treatment of infertility will be considered experimental or investigational until the published medical evidence regarding their risks, benefits, and overall safety and efficacy is sufficient to regard them as established medical practice. Relevant medical evidence can derive only from appropriately designed, peer-reviewed, published studies performed by multiple independent investigators, including a description of materials and methods sufficient to assess their scientific validity and to allow independent verification.”

ASRM further states, “Procedures classified by ASRM as experimental or investigational should not be represented or marketed to patients as established or routine medical practice.”  “Procedures classified by ASRM as experimental or investigational require further research that should be performed only with the specific review of a properly constituted Institutional Review Board (IRB).”

So, if your infertility doctor states that a treatment is “experimental,” ask what the studies have shown in regards to the potential benefit of the suggested treatment.  Ask your doctor if the experimental treatment will be performed under an IRB protocol.  Lastly, ask your doctor why he or she is recommending the experimental treatments.  Your doctor will be honest with you and answer your questions.  I encourage you to work with your doctor to decide whether the experimental treatment is right for you.

I want to wish everyone a Happy Holiday Season!  Also, does anyone have any remedy for my cranberry sauce aversion?

Source:  Fertility and Sterility, Vol. 92, No. 5, Page 1517, November 2009, Authors: Practice Committee of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine

Dr. Lowell T. Ku, M.D. is an award winning and leading Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility specialist at Dallas IVF, one of the nation’s premiere infertility centers.  Doctor Ku clarifies the many confusing terms used in the world of Infertility using straightforward explanations.