Arthur Castelbaum

Dr. Castelbaum is a very smart man. He is not an alarmist - he only gives you the information you need, and I think that’s to keep you for over analyzing or overthinking. I do, though, prefer to have more knowledge than I may need, so this has bothered me from time to time. When in his care, you need to have the mindset that he’s a professional and you need to trust him. Sometimes this can be hard for me, but I have seen many people have great success with him, so I do trust him.

Ask for more information when you need it.

I was put on the antagonist protocol. He never explained the logic for this protocol. This yielded 14 eggs and resulted in 10 frozen embryos. We transferred 1 embryo each time. First transfer resulted in a negative test and the second resulted in a miscarriage.

The cost of an IUI cycle was approximately $1,000 and for an egg retrieval and transfer, it cost just over $10,000.

I appreciate his conservative approach because the thought of carrying multiples worries me due to the increased health risks for myself and potential babies.

At first I was frustrated with communication, then we all realized they'd just switched over to a new email system. Dr. Castelbaum will answer emails the same day, often within a couple of hours, and once I could reach out that way I became very comfortable with care at RMA. Our situation was a really difficult and emotional one, but Dr. Castelbaum was really wonderful about being compassionate and giving us all the information and time we needed to make a decision we were comfortable with but that also gave us the best chance of having a child. Using an egg donor was a huge step, but once I was used to the idea, I was really glad we decided to do so. We got pregnant on our first cycle, currently 12 weeks.

Never be afraid to ask questions of Dr. C or of the nurses. They are happy to answer and you will feel more comfortable. They are all there to guide you through this process, and understanding what is going on and why helps a lot. There were many times when Dr. C supplied answers to questions I didn't even know to ask or before I could ask them.

We were given about a 20% chance of success with our own eggs after testing, vs 60% with a donor. As we were paying out of pocket, we knew we couldn't afford to try over and over, and we had to decide which was more important to us: the genetic relationship but with a much reduced chance of success, or having a much better chance of having a child with a donor egg. In retrospect, given the stress inherent in IVF with the hormone shots and whatnot, I'm really glad we went with a donor to limit all of that. Out of our 6 eggs, 3 became viable embryos, which is fantastic. We've only done one single embryo transfer cycle, and are now 12 weeks along.

I don't want to talk about exact numbers, but I will say that we consulted with another practice and RMA Philadelphia's pricing was much more reasonable. All pricing was done as packages. Since we were new to the process, we had a lot of questions, and the financing department understood the medical side of what was provided and were able to answer all of our questions.

Dr. Castelbaum strongly preferred SET given our circumstances.

We've been using RMA and Dr. C since 2014 and if you are seeking fertility treatments, you are also seeking expertise, compassion, and facts. In total, we've completed one IUI, one egg retrieval procedure, and five frozen embryo transfers. We had two births, one miscarriage, one unsuccessful transfer, and are currently expecting our third. It's a rollercoaster and Dr. C has always been informative and never gives false hope. Our first transfer was successful, but after a failed transfer and a miscarriage, we regrouped with Dr. C to discuss options for the remaining embryos because it was getting expensive and emotionally taxing. Dr. C provided us with the research, facts, and risks with genetic testing the remaining embryos and ultimately left the decision up to us. After we decided to move forward with testing, Dr. C supported it and it resulted in another birth and we are currently pregnant. He often talks about how enjoys his ongoing relationships with his patients, we are repeat customers over five years and despite our various journey with each transfer, Dr. C has guided us with the information we needed to make the best choice for us. He might appear too direct for some, but when you are making life decisions that are emotionally and financially taxing, you want truth, not someone pushing you in one direction or another, or providing a false sense of what might be.

Dr. C is a mix of kindness, quirky, and direct. Don't be put off by his directness and appreciate the quirky.

I had unexplained infertility until our first consult with Dr. C. As soon as he did an ultrasound he diagnosed me with Endometriosis and we made the decision to try IVF. We proceeded with an egg stimulus process and egg retrieval. He suggested I wait one full cycle for my body to recover from the retrieval before doing our first transfer. Although I was excited to do our first transfer, I realized my body needed time to recuperate and heeded Dr. C's advice. A year after the birth of our son, we returned to RMA and the next two transfers were unsuccessful (one negative, one miscarriage) and Dr. C suggested genetic testing for the remaining embryos. We moved forward with genetic testing with resulted in two (out of the five remaining) viable embryos. The next transfer resulted in a successful pregnancy and birth. We returned to RMA this January to use our final remaining embryo. During my mock transfer, the doctor saw a fibroid in my uterus. Dr. C suggested I have it removed prior to our last embryo transfer, as he wanted to remove any risk of the transfer not working. Again, although I was excited to do our last transfer, we heeded his advice again, and are now pregnant with that embryo.

We were full pay out of pocket.

From the beginning, Dr. C advised against multiple embryo transfer because of the risks associated.

I felt like Dr Castelbaum has a very high opinion of himself and his clinic. He spent a lot of time talking about how his clinic did well when inspected by the FDA. This seemed like a strange thing to talk about during our consult with some difficult news. I felt like he was pressuring us to use a donor egg without asking how we felt about it. He really dumped a lot of difficult information on us at once without much compassion. He suggested we have a cry and beer at home before coming back and talking with him again. If felt very strange and like we were taking up space in his office is we weren’t totally on board with his plan after 5 minutes of discussion. He was very blunt and said “you’re a complicated case” immediately after we entered the room. He prescribed Clomid and did not offer to monitor or follow up with me. I had a very bad drug reaction and spoke with a nurse who said she spoke with the doctor and told me there was nothing they could do and I should see my general doctor. When I called a week later seeking guidance after I got my period, I spoke with a nurse who said she would talk to the doctor and get bs m to me and they never did. I’m so glad we went elsewhere!

Don’t expect a great deal of compassion. He is very blunt.

He prescribed clomid but had me start on day 6, which another doctor confirmed didn’t do anything. I had terrible side effects (tingling in limbs and panic attacks) and they did nothing to help me or advise me after I called reporting the side effects.

The HSG test costs seemed high. Other costs were for office visits.

Dr. Castelbaum genuinely cares about the patients he works with. He was warm, friendly, and funny when appropriate. He treated me and my partner with the utmost respect and dignity. He worked extensively to help us with the situation we had, and constantly expressed empathy and compassion for our specific case. I absolutely love being a patient of his and wish all doctors had the knowledge and kindness he freely displays.

Take him over any other doctor, he is truly one of a kind.

We did a fairly aggressive antagonist protocol with Gonal-F and Menopur then Cetrotide. I responded extremely well to the protocol. At retrieval I had 25 eggs, with 23 being mature. 16 fertilized with ICSI and 8 embryos made it to day 5 for PGS biopsy and freezing. I did not respond well to the oral/vaginal estrogen, so we performed a mini-stim protocol for the FET. I did 10 days of follistim 75IU injections, with PIO starting a few days before transfer. Unfortunately the transfer resulted in a negative pregnancy test. I am hoping to generate more embryos before prepping for a new FET.

I had insurance coverage so the total cost of meds plus treatment was under $5000 total.

RMA's policy is to transfer a single embryo unless it has been shown to be absolutely necessary to try multiples.

I honestly can't think of a single weakness when it comes to Dr. Castelbaum. He is knowledgeable, compassionate, thorough, and kind. No two people are the same and he knows that and it shows in how he interacts with each of his patients. My husband and I brought embryos with us to Dr. Castelbaum from another facility. He was up front in telling us that he wanted his embryologist to review them because every clinic has their own guidelines for freezing and storing embryos and he wouldn't know what we had until they could look at them for themselves. After the first transfer with him from those embryos it resulted in a successful pregnancy where I gave birth to a healthy baby girl. Upon returning to the office two years later we did 4 additional transfers. The first 2 were with our remaining embryos we had brought with us from the other facility. From those, we had 1 early miscarriage (blighted ovum) and 1 chemical pregnancy. We then did another round of injections for egg retrieval. First transfer from this round was a chemical pregnancy. Second transfer was successful and I'm currently 10 weeks, 3 days pregnant and was discharged to my OB a week ago. It's so easy to blame doctors for a failed embryo transfer. My failed transfers were devastating to me; but I also remember how shocked and upset Dr. Castelbaum was for us. We did not do genetic testing although it was recommended to us to reduce the risk of miscarriage. Even though we chose not to, we were never judged for it. I almost gave up after the third failed transfer. Emotionally, I didn't know if I could keep going. Mentally, I knew I wasn't ready to give up. I'll never forget what Dr. Castelbaum said to me on my last appointment: "I know you were ready to jump ship and I understand why. But I'm so glad you didn't. It takes a lot of courage to do what you did. I'm glad I got to be a part of this and am so happy for you." These words will stick with me the rest of my life and I still tear up thinking about it. I could never thank him enough for all he's done for me and my husband.

Please realize Doctors are human. They can't give guaranteed results and they aren't perfect. Dr. Castelbaum loves what he does and it shows. If you want someone that will give you the brutal truth, yet deliver it in a compassionate way and someone who will truly fight for you Dr. Castelbaum is the guy to see.

I had insurance coverage for almost all of my treatments.

Dr. Castelbaum is a strong believer in only transferring one embryo. I was hesitant to agree but after he gave us the facts, I understood why and I knew he had my best interest in mind.

Dr. Castelbaum was very positive and kept my spirits up during the low points of fertility treatments. He seemed confident that he would help get me pregnant and he did. There were some roadblocks that we had to get through but he always found the solution. He misdiagnosed me with unexplained infertility at first. During IVF, hydrosalpinx was found on my one fallopian tube. He quickly set up surgery to remove the tube and assured me that my chances of IVF success would be the same after my unilateral salpingectomy. Even though the diagnostic test missed the hydrosalpinx, I still felt confident with his care. It took longer than anticipated but the end result was a pregnancy. I'm currently 31 weeks and am forever grateful for his care.

Ask a lot of questions! He doesn't mind answering them

With my insurance, IUIs we're covered. I paid a $40 copay each visit. And I paid for the medicine out of pocket. I don't recall the medicine prices. For IVF, we paid all out of pocket. We did the RMA assure plan which costs in total with meds about $30,000

He suggested one embryo transfer at a time because of my age.

As stated before, RMA is fine if you have an easily fixable problem. Otherwise, RMA, and especially Castlebaum are content to just go through the motions and then immediately move to IVF when the typical treatments don't work. Our least personal experience was with Castlebaum.

Expect blunt information and insensitive jokes if you are sensitive . Do your research beforehand and have questions prepared. Question the statistics of treatments.

Castlebaum basically told us to request what we wanted if we weren't going to do IVF. He did not think outside the box or offer alternate options. We tried 3 IUIs with progesterone as this had worked (though resulted in miscarriage) with our 4th IUI. On the final IUI ,I asked if there was anything else and he said we could perhaps try Follistim (no real explanation why). We also added Ovidrel, and he told us it was up to us which day we used it rather than monitoring and figuring out the most optimal time. All 3 IUIs resulted in negative tests.

Copays for office visits were $20.

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Dr. Castelbaum is a very experienced, knowledgeable, caring, and personable doctor. He is straightforward about his decisions and doesn't shy away from giving bad news when he needs to. He takes the time to answer questions during appointments and will schedule consults as needed. He is very responsive by email, as are the nurses who work at RMA.

Don't shy away from asking questions, even if you are bumping up against the limits of knowledge in the field of Reproductive Endocrinology. If he doesn't know the answer, he will tell you. He is a great doctor with a great deal of experience, but there are a lot of unknowns in this field, and being a well-educated patient is so important.

My first protocol was a typical antagonist protocol. It went worse than expected, given my age and other lab test results, but still yielded mature eggs that fertilized with ICSI. We decided to have another egg retrieval in order to bank more embryos prior to doing a transfer. Dr. Castelbaum recommended a micro flare protocol, which unfortunately yielded no mature eggs. We are trying again with another antagonist protocol.

My wife and I originally went for me to get inseminated and after many heartbreaks we turned to Dr. Castlebaum for my wife's insemination. After two iui procedures she became pregnant with our son. After the nurse called with the results he followed up with my wife to express his excitement. After Tatum was born we sent Dr. Castlebaum a birth announcement he again called us to express his delight and tell us how adorable our son is. To him it is not a job he genuinely wants you to have a baby and just wants to help you along your journey. We had been to another place where all I can describe it as is being cattle herded we were literally just a number and a paycheck and with no fertility coverage that's not what you want. Dr. Castlebaum makes you feel like part of his family and when you're struggling to have a baby that is so important.

Ask him anything he loves questions and he loves to hatch the plan with you. He doesn't tell you what "his plan" is for you instead it's your collaboration.

Iui twice with me using letrezol and hcg trigger shot one was positive pregnancy that ended in mc the other did not work. With my wife he did two iui no med assist and the first did not work the second did!

I believe the iui was 1,000 plus the cost of meds but I'm not 100% sure I took a new job and it did have coverage for iui so with my wife there were specialist copay so 40.00 each visit. The sperm cost 890 per vial and we have purchased a total of 9 and if costs between 250-400 to ship.

Dr. Castelbaum is an incredibly intelligent, capable and appreciative doctor. I want to start with that when I came back to visit with both my boys he was so genuinely touched, held each kid and truly appreciates the miracles he brings into the world. He is very straight forward with his information and also doesn't make assumption or judgments. I came from another clinic with unsuccessful IVF cycles and was referred to egg donation. I switched clinics for a 2nd opinion and Dr. Castelbaum was shocked that my previous doctor hadn't don't any type of testing on me to determine why my cycles weren't producing many eggs and why the ones retrieved were abnormal. He immediately ran some testing and did ultimately agree that egg donation was my best bet at having children while being able to experience pregnancy. He's very fact based and delivers matter-of-factly so you have to be okay with that but he also has a warm bedside manner. I loved him and would refer anyone to him. .

1st cycle -- approximately $47,000 2nd cycle -- approximately $3,500

Dr. Castelbaum was really easy for my husband and I to connect with. His humor and energy around the "science" aligned with how we work. This isn't for everyone, but it worked really well for us. He answered my questions before I asked them, and he was genuinely happy for us when we "graduated."

Just remember that you are one of many cases and patients he has seen. He's been through almost every situation, but you have not. Don't be shy to ask him to slow down or explain things further. It can be overwhelming, but remember that he is an expert. He genuinely loves his profession and wants to see you with a healthy baby and a happy future.

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It went through insurance and still working out my balance

Dr. had full confidence in eSET and was candid about the opportunity to have twins. His sentiments were in alignment with ours, so this was no issue. I could see how this might be a point of conflict for other patients.

Very honest and provides all statistics. Almost awkward socialization skills but very smart. Not always present. Actually never present for any IUI. Only nurses. I see and talk to the nurses more then him.

Be prepared to see mostly nurses. Delayed start of iVF due to no Availabke appointments. Nurses are amazing but center city office is much more hands on and better appointments. Doctor is always in the center city office

Started with clomid a low dose and I responded well. Failed 4 IUI’s and each try he upped the dosage of clomid. Also used the trigger shot before each IUI. Last IUI I developed cysts on my ovaries and decided to take a break

Insurance covers everything except donor egg and meds. I also pay $30 co pay each visit

Dr. Castelbaum is great. I can not think of a negative even when I probably should be contacting the nurse, if I contact Dr. he always answer my question without hesitation. I have had no disappointments and I have always been treated with respect. Dr. Castelbaum makes me feel very comfortable in not so comfortable situations.

Ask questions if you do not understand. Dr. Castelbaum has patience and will go over anything you need so do not be scared to ask if you don’t know.

I am in the beginning stage. We haven’t gotten to my protocol as of yet.

I am uncertain. I started off with insurance but I am now self pay and am waiting to get exact self pay amount.

Dr. Castelbaum will only transfer one embryo if you are under a certain age (35).

Dr. Castelbaum has a wonderful personality that matched my wife and I so well. He is clearly knowledgeable and was honest with us about his recommendations. He was willing to hear our concerns and seemed to genuinely care about us during the process.

He has been very affirming of LGBTQ+ identified patients and has a great sense of humor.

We did 4 rounds of IUI with clomid and an ovidrel trigger for each attempt. I was not diagnosed with any infertility - but since we are a same-sex couple, we went to RMA. Insurance does not cover any of our treatments, so the next recommendation is IVF.

We had to pay for everything except for diagnostic tests.

Overall it was very good, even during the first visit they did an ultra sound and bloodwork right away, he also told us of the entire plan during our first visit which I liked. He was very friendly and made each visit easier then I expected. He was also very positive which was good.

He does like to joke around which he thinks helps patients relax more. I was fine with them and they did make me feel at easy since I was very nervous. I think some people may not find this as comforting as I did.

Expensive.

Dr castelbaum is extremely empathetic and caring. He explained thoroughly his concerns with my pcos and extreme follicle growths and the chance of many multiples. He gave me choices and his input which I appreciated

Believe in him. As scary as it is, he wants the best for you and to do everybody he can for you he successful

He played with dosage of medication and switched from oral to injectables. He monitored my follicles frequently by ultrasound. Ordered hsg to check for Fallopian tube blockage

Billing was very helpful. They explained the costs with you prior to procedures and go over insurance policy. They are willing to set up payment plans

Dr castlebaum is a great doctor. It’s too early in my treatment to really know what’s going on. I think he’s done a good job so far. I’m a little disappointed with how my last appointment went, only because there was information I’ve given him from the beginning and it felt like he never addressed it before

Make sure you give all information

I had and hsg test done which was painful and I was in a lot of pain for a few days. Otherwise all tests were bearable. Medication was fine so far

Great doctor! Very compassionate and caring! Worked hard to achieve a pregnancy and was willing to try anything. Great bedside manner. Took the time to find out different treatment plans and ultimately wanted to help us achieve a pregnancy by any means.

Stay positive. Ask questions.

Struggled with a thin lining. Dr. Castelbaum attempted numerous protocols to try and thicken uterine lining with different forms of estrogen. Tried Neupogen washes in uterus, vaginal viagara, acupuncture.

Extremely costly. Did Donor Egg with a known donor and three frozen embryo transfers.

First cycle he transferred two embryos. Second and third cycle, only one embryo. Moving forward I think one embryo is the new normal to prevent premature birth of multiples.

He explains everything the first visit, gives you options, and if things don’t work he reevaluates. Very kind and was just as happy that we were pregnant as we were! His office was awesome and the nurses were great. I loved everyone there. When I had to see other doctors or the nurse practitioner for procedures, they had the same bedside manner and were great

Ask questions and be open minded.

We had done clomid and timed intercourse. Letrozole and timed intercourse. Clomid, ovidril, and iui twice.

Very good bedside manner and patience. Did not personalize my treatment or change protocol after multiple losses. Was willing to discuss other treatment options but would not prescribe himself. Referred to different doctors and forced to jump through hoops.

Do not use if you have a history of miscarriages

It was covered under insurance

Only willing to do single embryo transfer

I completely trust him and know that he is doing everything he possibly can to help me. He is extremely intelligent and experienced. I appreciate his bedside manner and also his sense of humor. Plus he is very gentle and patient

Relax and trust him

We tried clomid twice, once with iui, and then switched to femara for two cycles, once with iui

Reasonable

I think he’s very conservative

He had great bedside manor. He explained everything very well and answered all of questions well. He called with lab results and recommendations. He was very personable. He talked to us like a human and not just another case. He was great!

Ask all the questions because he will answer every single one and explain them well.

I was told we would only do single embryo transfer due to my age I am at his risk for complications in multiples.

I thought we had a great experience together, if i ever needed to discuss things he was always available. He always went over the procedures and what was at risk. He was also kind and caring. When i became pregnant he was so happy as was I! He told me to come back and visit before and after I have the baby.

If you want the truth go see him

I only had to pay for meds and co-pays