I have included the attachments and have added the approximate costs in US$ in red.

The English version of their website can be found here. Dr Tom Coetsier’s email address is Tom.Coetsier@azstlucas.be.

Answers to my questions:

1. What is the current success rate for your clinic? (preferably by age as I know that the success rate will be much lower for somebody of my age)  averge 35%/cycle, above 40 : 15 %/cycle 
2. How many cycles do you perform per year at the clinic?  500 
3. What is the maximum age that you treat?  45 
4. Are there any fertility conditions that you will not treat?  HIV discordant couples  
5. What is your embryo transfer policy? How many embryos will you replace at one time?  above 40 at least 2 
6. What is the basic cost of the IVF treatment?  see attachment 
7. What additional costs would / could be incurred?  see attachment 
8. What happens to the costs if the cycle has to be abandoned?  refund 
9. How long would I need to be in Belgium for?  if folow-up stimulation performed in UK, only from pickup tll transfer (3 days)
10. Who deals with the logistics of flights and accommodation?  patient 
11. How is the pre-treatment carried out?  see attachment 
12. How do I get medication?  in UK 
13. How will I be monitored?  see attachment 
14. How will I know that I am not being under / over stimulated?  see attachment 
15. If I have a problem whilst in the UK who would I go to?  obs/gyn or gen practitioner 
16. Is the clinic registered with any regulatory body?  yes
    

Attachment 1:

Dear Mrs., Mr.,

Concerning :    FERTILITY TREATMENT FOR FOREIGN PATIENTS

in AZ Saint-Lucas Gent

It is an honour for me to offer you the opportunity to be treated in our centre with medically assisted reproductive techniques. These include the full range of possible treatment modalities, including ovulation induction, artificial insemination with own or donor semen, IVF, ICSI with or without MESA/TESE, assisted hatching, cryopreservation of gametes and/or embryos, preimplantation aneuploidy screening, …

As an introduction, I would like to situate our hospital and to illustrate the way IVF-treatment in our hospital is structured.

The Saint-Lucas Hospital is a large regional hospital near the city centre of Gent, the capital of East-Flanders. It has almost 900 beds, employing 15 gynaecologists, with 2600 deliveries a year (largest maternity in Flanders).

The Saint-Lucas Hospital has chosen to cooperate with the University Fertility Centre of Gent. The intake of infertile couples, the ovarian stimulation and the ultrasound monitoring are performed in the Saint-Lucas Hospital or in the Gynaecologic Center Gent (private practice). The ovum pick-up takes place in the Saint-Lucas Hospital and the laboratory procedures (in vitro fertilisation and embryo transfer itself) are performed in the IVF-laboratory situated in the University Hospital in Gent after transport of the oocytes in a specifically designed transport-box (It has been shown that the oocyte transport does not influence the IVF-results). We perform about 500 pick-up’s per year, with an average pregnancy rate of about 30 to 35% per cycle (in Belgian patients,  we are not allowed to replace more than 1 embryo in a first attempt).

The advantage of a transport-setting is that we can personally follow each couple, still having the benefit of using a laboratory with maximal expertise. This is not possible within a large university hospital, where it is custom that ever changing doctors and assistants care for the same couple, since a university hospital primarily has a teaching function.

The University IVF-laboratory of Gent (second largest in Belgium with 1400 IVF-cycles per year) has established a wide transport-IVF network with collaborating centres in Flanders, as well as in the Netherlands 35% per ovum pick-up. The University IVF-

laboratory of Gent is performing active research to develop new techniques in IVF. Numerous publications originating from our team have been published in scientific journals.

In our center there is no waiting list, which means that patients can be treated whenever it suits you. The only exception is oocyte donation and PGD-AS, with a waiting list of respectively 1 year and more or less 6 months.

We enclose hereby some documents describing the ways cooperation could be implemented in practice, and leave these notes for your comments.

Of course, we are at your disposal to personally comment or discuss the different aspects.

Looking forward to a successful cooperation,

We remain, Yours Sincerely,

Dr. Tom Coetsier                                 Dr Nele Van Renterghem

Attachment 2 – Costs

Hospital :                                                                                Private practice :

AZ Sint-Lucas Gent                                                             Gynaecologic Center Gent

Groenebriel 1                                                                             Sint-Pietersnieuwstraat 142

9000 Gent                                                                                 9000 Gent

BELGIUM                                                                                  BELGIUM

www.azstlucas.be                                                                        www.gcgent.be

tel +32/9.224.63.92                                                                 tel +32/9.222.99.22

fax +32/9.385.43.66                                                                fax +32/9.235.07.47

For emergencies or if no answer on one of the above mentioned numbers, contact the centre on the tel nr : +32/92350746

PRICE LIST IVF-TREATMENT 01/08/2008 – 31/12/2008

Visits to the clinic for consultation or ultrasound scan :                                                                                         50,-  Euro (approx. US$68)

Sperm analysis :                                                                                                                                                 35,-  Euro (approx. US$47)

Blood analysis :                                                                                                                                   depends on the tests to be performed

Medication for 1 IVF/ICSI cycle (standard doses), if provided by our centre :                                          1000,- Euro (approx. US$1,357)                                                                                                 

Hospital admission for ovum pick-up or TESE / MESA procedure :                                                          800,- Euro * (approx. US$1,086)

TESE / MESA laboratory cost (identification of viable sperm cells, freezing of the tissue for 2 years)               350,- Euro (approx. US$475)

Extending conservation time till the maximum of 10 years (as determined by Belgian law)                      600,- Euro (approx. US$815)

Donorsemen for 1 IVF/ICSI cycle :                                                                                                                   150,- Euro (approx. US$204)

IVF or ICSI laboratory cost (IVF-laboratory University Hospital Gent), including                                                     2000,- Euro * (approx. US$2,713)

                oocyte identification, sperm preparation, micro-injection procedure,

                embryo culture, freezing for 2 years, thawing of embryos

Extending conservation time till the maximum of 5 years (as determined by Belgian law)                        300,- Euro (approx. US$407)

Laser assisted hatching                                                                                                                                    250,- Euro (approx. US$339)

Assisted oocyte activation                                                                                                                                 150,- Euro (approx. US$204)

PGD-AS (genetic screening of the embryos (aneuploidy-screening ,FISH))                                          1000,- Euro (approx. US$1,357)

(we do not perform gender selection for non-medical reasons)

Intra-uterine ultrasound-guided transfer of embryos :                                                                                 250,- Euro * (approx. US$339)

Oocyte donation (donor renumeration) :                                                                                                        600,- Euro (approx. US$815)

Coordination fee (incl tel contacts and e-mail correspondence) + administration                                                300,- Euro * (approx US$407)

Extra coordination fee in case of oocyte or embryo donation :                                                                   500,- Euro (approx. US$678)

These figures have to be added to obtain the total price. A typical IVF/ICSI-cycle with stimulation followed elsewhere costs * 800 + 2000 + 250 + 300 = 3350 Euros (approx. US$4,544)

P.S.

These prices do not include travel expenses nor costs for hotel accomodation.

 The hospital AZ Sint-Lucas is near the city centre of Gent and is only 10 to 15 minutes walking from most centrally located hotels.

The Gent tourism office can inform you about hotel accomodation :

Tel. +32 (9) 266 56 60

Fax +32 (9) 266 56 73

E-mail toerisme@gent.be

Website:                http://www.gent.be

Our staff speeks Dutch, English and French and understands German.

Attachment 3:

Route Description to the Gynaecologic Centre Gent

Coming from Antwerp (E17) take the exit “Gent Centrum”. Follow that
direction. At the second traffic lights the road makes a slight S-turn.
Follow the road for another 100 m or so untill you see theatre “Capitole” on
your right hand side. Keep left because at the next crossing you will have
to take the road between the “Zuid shopping center” on your left and the
“Eat @ Café” in front of you. The name of this road is Vlaanderenstraat (road
with tramrails). Once in the Vlaanderenstraat, take the very first road left
(Oudescheldestraat), passing the back of the shopping center. At the end of
this road, take left again (Kuiperskaai). At the first traffic lights, turn
right (Lammerstraat). At the next traffic lights, turn left : this is the
Sint-Pietersnieuwstraat. The “Gynaecologic Centre Gent” is at no.142 on the
right hand side : there is a private parking for patients accessible from the front.

The address :

Gynaecologic Centre Gent

Sint-Pietersnieuwstraat 142

9000 Gent

BELGIUM

Tel. : +32/9.222.99.22

Fax.: +32/9.235.07.47

MAP : SEE WEBSITE : www.gcgent.be

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