Recommendations on other Greek clinics (not SERUM)

[janie73]

Hi ruth
I had some dealings with Dr Paraschos when I started my investigations into Greek clinics. I found him to be brief but quick to respond and to the point. I would have happily cycled there but found a clinic that I preferred on the basis that I was looking to have one last round which was really closely monitored and customised. This was New Life in Thessaloniki. I haven't had this cycle yet and changing circumstances may mean I don't go ahead at all but the clinic has been superb and really supportive even though I had to pull out of my treatment at the last minute for other reasons. I couldn't fault them on the experience I have had to date. But Embio are cheaper and their success rates are comparable. I don't have much more information I'm afraid.
Good luck.
Janie xxx

[FertilityFriends]

[ociwoman]

Hi there,

I live abroad and am working with Ruth Pellow (lovely, lovely lady) to organize egg donor ivf in Greece this summer. We are currently looking at Iakentro (Thessaloniki or Athens units) and New Life (Thessaloniki). 

I would love to hear back from anyone that has had any experience (good or bad!) with Iakentro. There are few English reviews about Iakentro, and I know that New Life is really quite new, so if anyone has any feedback that they could share, I (and a few other Canadian women!) would be most grateful.

Best wishes for success to everyone.

[Stacey10]

I've recently come back from de/ivf at Embio, and I found it very hard with the time difference, I was approx 7-9 hrs ahead of Athens so would get emails in the middle of the night with instructions that needed to be done the day before!! They were not open with med schedual or when I needed to have scans I was only told when I needed to know, so for scans and bloodwork this really created a problem for me as my scans needed to be booked in approx 2 wks in advance and at the most I was given about 2 days notice! Luckilky I was able to be slotted into cancelled appointments or I dont know what would have happened.... As for the clinic, yes its nice and new, and the majority of the staff spoke good english, I found Dr P to be relatively good, but I found him to be quite rough when doing a tvs and also during the transfer while "cleaning"my cervix etc, the transfer itself went smoothly, I had to wait an extra hour or so because they were behind, now during the transfer there were no screens to watch the embryo's being put back, I only "saw"where they were afterwards when an ultrasound screen was turned to face me after it was done, so it really could have been a picture from anyones uterus with the embryo's in place... I was never told the quality at the time and they only originally had 4 mature eggs and 3 survuved the weekend for transfer, then later on that day I was told 2 were grade 1 and the other was grade 2, but who actually knows.... the whole experence with Embio has left me actually wondering if any were actually transfered, and the actual quality, and although I paid for the whole batch of eggs, to only get 4 makes me wonder if they are actually sharing the cycles or not stimming the donor enough, on their website they say that they aim to get 6-8 eggs, but I was definately short of that!! Its not just me either, I have a UK friend who went to them last year and exactly right down to the dot, the same thing for her, 4 eggs, 3 made it to transfer and were the same grades etc, both of us neg pregnancy result.... for me it was a big shock as I have no problems getting pregnant, even my old crappy eggs manage to implant so that has left me wondering as well.... the after care is not too hot either, I emailed my co-ordinator the results of my blood test and never heard back from her until 3 wks later, then she was asking me if I was pregnant or not, so all in all I really dont know if I could reccomend this clinic to anyone... Athens is an amazing city and I'm glas we had a holiday there, but I am persuing zlin atm because at least they guarantee 2 high quality blasts, no such guarantee with Embio....

[agate]

I'm sorry you didn't have a great experience and got a bfn - I've had no personal experience of embio at all  but I know Dr P is quite a celebrity in Athens because he does a lot of TV and magazine stuff.

Did you get any reassurance about the type of women embio recruit as donors?   Do you know how the donors are recruited, screened and looked after?

Their quoted pg rates also seem very high.  Did you get the impression that they are realistic?

[MistyB]

Hi

I had treatment at Iakentro in Thessaloniki in March, unfortunately it didn't result in a BFP but I can't complain about the standard of care I received. Although things were a little uncertain re: DC once this was done we were kept up to date daily with how our embryos were doing. We had a day 3 transfer as we didn't have enough embryos to risk taking them to day5, but I had three near perfect day3 put back. The clinic was clear, all the equipment matched the high standards you would expect in the UK and most of the staff spoke perfect English. Our embriologist and the doctors (Dr Prapas and Dr Prapas...brothers) have studied in the UK at some point.

We had a follow up appointment (arranged through Ruth Pellow @ IVF Treatment Abroad) about a week or two after our BFN, and agreed a plan of action. Since then we have been back for further tests (in May) and are waiting for the final results to come back (such as immune tests).

We will definitely be using them again, which will be in about three months.

I know at least one other lady on here who used them and she is equally as positive about them and Ruth Pellow. They have a clinic in Thessaloniki and one in Athens, I went to Thessaloniki and the other lady went to Athens.

I was going to use New Life before we found Iakentro, and only went with Iakentro because they found us a better match.

Hope this helps and good luck in your journeys

Mxx 

[MistyB]

Hi hopeful

I'm happy to share the list of tests they recommended we have after our failed cycle. I'll PM you once I've found the email as I can't remember all of them off hand, but I can tell you I had basic thyroid and liver function tests, full blood count, thrombin tests (I have known issues in this area), immune tests such as anti sperm antibodies, anti nuclear antibodies as well as NK cells testing. The last one I'm still awaiting for the results of. DH had DNA fragmentation testing on his sperm.

As for donor information, we were told nationality,skin colour, hair colour, eye colour blood group, height, weight, age and education level. We had to ask for education level, as this is not basic information but they were happy to supply. They also asked for photos of myself and DH so they could find a good likeness match. I agree that it's important for any child to look like their parents (especially if you have yet to decide whether to tell the child they are from donors ). So they (and I think most clinics in Greece) will look for a close match.

Also all donors are proven (they've either had children themselves or have successfully donated before) and there is no egg sharing, you get all the eggs your donor produces.

I hope this helps. Will PM you soon

Mx

[Stacey10]

Hi agate, the only info I got about the donor is what is on their website, which seems to be exactly the same as what is on all other websites, and as to date I havent been told a thing about the donor they chose for me so I have no idea as to anything about her, I thought that I would have been given minimal information even if the cycle didnt work, all in all very dissapointed with the clinic and if we do decide to pursue zlin we will have to now do double donation as we cant afford for my husband to come over, I think I'm more worried about this, he has no problems with it, and I shouldnt either, as a baby is a baby and hopefully this time if I can go it will work....

[MistyB]

Stacey, which clinic are you using?

Have you considered sending your DH sperm over ahead of time. There are clinics in the UK which freeze sperm and it can be shipped or you can take it out with you. I haven't done this myself but have read about other who have.

Also have you asked your clinic about information on your donor? I tend to find they are not for coming with info, but will provide it if asked. If they won't tell you anything I would consider another clinic. Even in countries where the laws are strict you should still be given basic information such as hair colour, eye colour, complexion.

Mx

[Stacey10]

Hi Misty, we've already cycled with Embio and we live in Australia so not sure if we can send sperm over from here and also not sure if zlin will accept it

[ociwoman]

Hello,

I am going to start posting my experience with Iakentro Clinic, Athens, Greece just in case others are looking to conceive via egg donation in Greece.

Note that we are also working with Ruth Pellow through ivftreatmentabroad. She is a British fertility nurse who has started her own business coordinating fertility treatment between a few Spanish and Greek clinics and international patients. To date, she has been extremely helpful and wonderfully kind and knoweldgeable.
 
COST OF EGG DONATION IVF AT Iakentro, Athens:

It is important to note that the costs below do not include an assessment of your particular fertility issues. I am assuming that if you are at the point where you have decided to attempt conceiving via egg donation, then you already have completed your testing and fertility assessment, so these costs are not included below. Once we received the go ahead from our health care provider that we were really good candidates for egg donation, these were the costs associated with the ED ivf cycle. 
 
A FRESH donor egg ivf at Iakentro, Greece costs 5000 euros. This includes EVERYTHING related to the ED ivf cyle, except two things:

(1) the cost of the medications that are required for YOURSELF to prepare your endometrium for the egg transfer (in Canada, this is about 300euros- check your insurance provider to see if they will cover your meds), and
(2) the cost of satellite monitoring at your local fertility clinic to monitor your endometrium in the few weeks prior to egg transfer in Greece (cost at our local Canadian clinic is approximately 700 euros total).

The 5000 euros paid to the clinic includes all of the following:

- the donor's fee, the donor's medications, the donor's screening and donor's medical fees,

- the egg retrieval

- the sperm collection and sperm washing

- ICSI if it is needed

- assisted hatching

- transfer of 5 day blastocists

- all of the recipients medical needs at the Greek clinic

- vitrification (freezing) and storage of embryos/blasticists fo 5 years.

There is no additional "agency fee" for the donor.

The cost for the services of Ruth Pellow (if you decide to use her) are included the 5000 euros. No extra cost to you!

ALSO NOTE: You get to keep all the eggs retrieved. This is not an egg-sharing program.

TRAVEL - cost and length of stay

The cost obviously depends on where you live. The travel costs can be greatly reduced if you have your treatment in the Spring, Fall or Winter because summer travel/stay in Greece is more expensive. So choose a smart travel time.
 
You will need to stay in Greece for approximately 7 to 10 days. Iakentro schedules your treatment with the egg donor in such a way that you can actually plan ahead for your travel and take advantage of reduced fares. It is smart to buy a ticket that you can change travel dates without too much penalty. Same thing for hotel reservations - choose something you can cancel without a fee.

If the treatment fails, and you have frozen eggs left over, the intended mother can return to Greece for a FET. The cost of the thaw and transfer of the eggs at Iakentro is approx 1000 euros, but the stay in Greece would be much shorter (only a few days).

WHO ARE THE DONORS

Egg donation in Greece is completely anonymous, so you will never get to see a picture of the donor. You will be provided with details such as:

age
nationality
eye colour
hair colour
complexion
height
weight
blood type
nationality

donors will be requested on your behalf who are UNDER 30 and PROVEN = have donated before and the cycle was successful.

If it is important to you, you may also request a donor with a certain education level, and they will accommodate.

Typically, the donors who work with Iakentro are recruited through word of mouth. They are often Greek, Romanian, Russian, or Georgian students.

You provide the clinic with a picture of yourself, one of your partner, and any kids you may have had together already, and they work hard to find a match that looks like you and will fit into your family.

There are no waiting lists for donors. The clinic plans it's fresh ED cycles 6-8 weeks ahead of time. Once your file is completed and you are ready to move ahead, it takes about 2-4 weeks to match you with potential donors.

In our case, we got into contact on May 13th, indicated that we would like to try a cycle in late July, and we were provided the details of two potential donors on June 14, 2013. Both donors match my characteristcis EXTREMELY closely. One is Greek (27 years old) and the other is Romanian (25). Both are proven donors and both attended university. We chose the Romanian donor.   

Our fresh ED ivf cycle will occur in July 2013, with egg collection set for July 30-31st.

PREPARATION OF INTENDED MOTHER'S ENDOMETRIUM

I was started on birth control pills on June 11th (Day 1 of my cycle), so that my cycle can be tightly controlled and my uterus calmed as we approach the July ivf cycle.

Now that we have chosen our donor and have dates set, we will be provided (and our local fertility clinic) with our formal treatment plan. This will lay out all the timing of the meds, u/s and blood work required in the weeks prior to egg transfer, when we need to be in Greece, etc.

PAYMENT FOR TREATMENT

Since we are coming from abroad, we will be wire transferring the 5000 euros to Iakentro's a finance company about 2 weeks prior to treatment, to ensure that the transation is completed by the time we arrive in Greece on July 28th. We were a little bit nervous at first about transferring such a large amount of $ to Europe, but we have spoken with two other patients of Ruth's (one of this website, and one based in New Zealand), and they experienced no problems with the transfer of funds. So no need to worry - it's safe!

Well, that's how things are going for us so far with the Iakentro, Athens Clinic

I hope this helps, and will update as we go along. Feel free to ask anything!

Best to everyone!