Empiric Therapy in IVF - Science vs Emotions

A number of patients who have failed an IVF cycle (either in our clinic or elsewhere) want us to try something new and different for their next cycle. The common requests are whether we can prescribe steroids, IV immunoglobulins or Intralipids for them. IVF failure can come as a rude shock, and patients are desperate to do something differently in the next cycle in order to make it succeed. Patients who have failed an IVF cycle can become quite frantic and are happy to clutch at straws. When they read about “new and latest” treatment advances, they want us to try those out for them too. The stumbling block is that a number of these treatments are empirical. Empirical therapy is that which is based on experience , and has not been proven to be effective in controlled clinical trials. Doting on AnecdotesHowever, these are supported by umpteen anecdotal case reports of success, where some patients have benefited from trying that particular treatment intervention. At this point, it’s important to understand that the lack of clinical trial proof doesn’t really reflect that the treatments don't work - it's just that no clinical trials have been conducted about them.  Remember that just because there was a pregnancy after the treatment does not mean that the pregnancy was a result of that treatment. This is a natural bias and this logical fallacy is called the “post hoc, ergo propter hoc” fallacy. Sadly, it’s very easy for people to fall prey to this, which is why...
Source: The Patient's Doctor - Category: Obstetricians and Gynecologists Source Type: blogs