Reversing Vasectomy Reversal Thinking
You had your wings clipped and now you want more children. What’s a guy to do? Well that depends on who you ask. Your choices include vasectomy reversal or sperm retrieval and assisted reproduction…
Assisted Reproduction: A Two-Edged Sword
Almost 2 decades ago, just about the time when my fellowship ended and I was starting on the faculty of UCSF, along came ICSI. Short for intracytoplasmic sperm injection, ICSI involves using a single sperm…
It Takes Two to Tango
The Case of the Month is an actual patient from The Turek Clinic. It is presented to highlight Infertility Awareness Week. The Dance Begins He is a 36-year old who has been trying…
The Essential Beginnings of a Vitamin
Honestly, my opinion about nutritional supplements has evolved dramatically. Historically, the value of prenatal vitamins for women is well recognized and uncontested. For example, calcium keeps mom’s bones healthy as developing fetuses borrow…
A Year Without Answers II
This is the second of two guest posts from a patient who lives in Europe. He recently recontacted me about his experience with male infertility and how it affected him. Moved by his…
The Incredible (Renewable?) Egg
It’s hard to keep up anymore; things are changing so quickly in fertility medicine. Just in the last week, a Harvard researcher discovered stem cells in the human ovary and a 66 year…
Rise of the Instant Family
Using sex to conceive, the chance of having twins or higher multiple births is about 1-2%. With assisted reproduction, including intrauterine insemination (IUI) in the office and in vitro fertilization (IVF) in the…
The Artificial Testicle: Funded!
It is the stuff of dreams in academic medicine: an NIH (National Institutes of Health) research grant. Get one of these and you’re pretty much assured of getting tenure and succeeding at…
The Wall of Holiday Cards
I always tell grateful patients that the kindest thing that they can do for me is to send a holiday picture of the family. We have a wall in the clinic that…
Recipe for Making a Walrus
How do you help a 2700 lb Walrus conceive? Very carefully. In fact, only a handful of walruses have conceived in captivity over the last century. In the U.S., it is 10…
May 20, 2012
Arthur — This is a wonderful reply - I can relate in so many ways. As a cancer survivor, I had...
May 13, 2012
Paul Turek, MD — Dear Shahid, That is quite a story! I must admit, the reaction that your husband is having to hearing the...
May 13, 2012
shahid — Dear Doctor,
I live in Pakistan. I am 32 and my husband is of 33 years old. We got married in...
