Canadian Infertility Awareness Week - Over 4000 children born from IVF at Ottawa Fertility Centre

OTTAWA, Ontario - May 28, 2014 - PRLog -- May 25-31 marks Infertility Awareness Week in Canada. One in six couples in Canada face infertility or fertility issues when starting a family. This is a sensitive and isolating disease that has affected or will affect approximately 150,000 individuals in the Ottawa area. Many couples suffer in silence and face years of costly medical treatments and emotional turbulence. The Ottawa Fertility Centre (OFC) understands the challenges related to infertility and has been working with couples in the National Capital Region to realize their dreams of having a family for 25 years.

Since the first IVF procedure was performed at the Ottawa Hospital at the Civic Hospital campus in 1989, 4096 children have been born from in-vitro fertilization (IVF) procedures completed at OFC. OFC is now located in a state of the art facility, where a group of 7 reproductive specialists, scientists and medical staff help more than 4000 patients a year achieve a family through advanced assisted reproduction technologies. Every year, approximately 300 children are born in Ottawa as a result of IVF performed at OFC. In addition, many more children have been born with the assistance of less complicated procedures and therapies offered by OFC, such as intrauterine insemination (IUI), ovulation induction, and treatment of other medical issues effecting fertility.

IVF is a procedure that unites the egg and sperm outside the body; a resulting embryo is then transferred into the uterus in an attempt to achieve pregnancy.

Dr. Arthur Leader, Director of Research and Reproductive Specialist at OFC, has spent his career assisting patients through their infertility journeys and advocating for the aspiring families he has treated since the centre began operating. “Our goal is to bring hope to those who are suffering from infertility by helping them find answers to their questions and make informed choices”.

OFC is one of the largest and most advanced centres for assisted reproduction in the country. The Centre treats patients from Eastern Ontario and a growing number of people are seeking help from OFC from other parts of the country and abroad. OFC is a cohesive team of highly motivated, experienced, and compassionate fertility specialists driven by a common vision: to be the Centre of choice for quality reproductive care in Canada. The centre continues to make advances in assisted reproduction enabling many more to achieve the dream of a family, which may otherwise have been impossible.