Rafat Abbasi

I saw Dr. Abbasi originally as a patient being treated for PCOS/anovulation. After over a year of negative tests and treatments including timed intercourse with injections and IUIs, we moved onto IVF with PGS tested embryos. When my first FET failed, Dr. Abbasi decided to run more tests to figure out why I was having such a lack of success at my age (28) with good egg quality. Her testing determined that I had many immunological and blood-clotting factors which were making it impossible for my embryos to implant. Once we began treatment for these issues I was able to get pregnant and carry to term (and am currently pregnant again after repeating my successful protocol). I am so thankful that Dr. Abbasi took quick action to make changes and figure out what my issues were. She didn't just suggest repeating the same failing strategy over and over. She is blunt and honest and I trust her intimately to tell me what I need to hear to be successful. I will always be thankful to her for being our miracle worker. I have also never heard of another doctor, anywhere, who is as hands-on as her. She performs all monitoring ultrasounds, retrievals, transfers and early pregnancy ultrasounds for her patients. She is incredibly responsive to email and has a dry sense of humor that I love!

Do not be afraid to contact her directly to get the information you need. Ask her as many questions as you need to in order to be prepared for your cycle. Do not expect her to small talk often or give you a sugar-coated consult. Others might say that she is "cold" but if you get to know her you will find that she cares deeply for her patients and shows it through her hands-on care and not her smalltalk. There are not many doctors that call patients daily after retrieval and put patient health and safety above all else (including doing all she can to eliminate chances for OHSS).

My first retrieval protocol was antagonist with ICSI, lupron trigger, and FET. My 2 successful cycles involved the lupron down-regulation protocol with HCG trigger, ICSI and fresh transfers. For my 2 successful transfers I was also on an immune protocol which involved IVIG, Prednisone, neupogen and lovenox. I switched to the fresh transfer approach after having difficulty during my first cycle getting my lining thick enough for FET. My lining was better during my fresh cycles. My immune testing came after my PGS FET failed.

7:30 is always when monitoring was supposed to begin, but really it begins when the nurses show up. As a teacher who had to be at work early, I'd have to get there even earlier to get to be first in line so I could get out of the door fast. However, in my most recent cycle Dr. Abbasi did all of my montioring herself and I always appreciated this level of care!

My insurance covered treatment and meds, but the freezing/testing part of any cycle was around $5400 (this was the part my insurance wouldn't cover) and embryo testing itself could be thousands more depending on the number of embryos to be tested. The immunological treatment I did for my successful cycles was around $30,000 per cycle.

Dr. Abbasi is open to mutliple embryo transfer but definitely prefers to do a single embryo transfer with a PGS tested embryo. She does not believe that multiple embryos lead to a higher chance of success (just a higher chance of having multiples).

Dr Abassi is completely trustworthy and knowledgeable - I totally trust her medical knowledge. I also think she is putting more effort into figuring out the cause of my unexplained infertility than other doctors, who just wanted to label it and jump straight into IUI and IVF with standard procedures. With her, I feel like my treatment is tailored. Now - the only thing is that she can come across as no-nonsense. I like it - I'm here for answers. But I can see that it could rub others the wrong way.

Bring all your medical records with you to your consultation - we went over them in detail and it was very helpful I had them all well organized in a binder. At times it was a bit like a pop quiz on different numbers and treatments.

IUI - letrozole plus FSH, then trigger and progesterone suppositories. I ovulate on my own but the goal is to get multiple eggs to improve the chances.

$1620 for IUI with letrozole, including everything except the baseline appt

n/a

Dr Abbasi is very straightforward and not as chatty as other doctors. However I felt that she was very interested in coming up with a protocol to address my miscarriages. She ordered tests that showed a bacterial infection and thus put me on a protocol for antibiotics. I had been taking Chinese herbs on my own for months while taking a TTC break so I insisted on doing one unmedicated IUI. She agreed to let me do only one and insisted that I do back-to-back inseminations in two days. It worked out well because I did get pregnant but it turned out to be my fourth miscarriage. Then she really went to town on bloodwork and ordered special immunological testing that was not considered mainstream. She sent me to a hematologist to interpret the results. He recommended that I do IVIG prior to transfer .

I would say that she is an excellent doctor so don't be put off by her manner. She might be a bit brusque but she used to be a military doctor! I think she was in the Army.

Dr Abbasi let me do an unmedicated cycle but also antibiotics for a bacterial infection. I did use a trigger shot.

I did a double IUI for an unmedicated cycle with a trigger shot. Will have to look up my costs!

She was upfront and honest. I found her to be warm, but honestly I'm fine with more medical facts and less bedside manner. She was super cool with me being single. It really never came up after I explained why I was there in the beginning.

She has a piecemeal approach--don't think about things too far down the road if you don't need to. Don't do tests that you don't need to. I really liked that.

We tried two cycles without any clomid or injections. (My choice.) Then we tried one cycle with clomid and an injection. She was supportive of my decision to try and do it naturally, but was also supportive when I changed my mind.

I paid for the sperm and I paid for the defrosting and prep of the sperm. I think that the sperm was about $750 a vial and the prep was $250. My insurance covered everything else.

Dr. Abassi was trustworthy and compassionate, but straight to the point. She did not sugar-coat anything. She made recommendations that ultimately resulted in a pregnancy. She was compassionate.

She has your best interest at heart. She does not sugar coat anything.

Monitoring appointments were done early in the morning. I always tried to get there as early as possible so I wouldn't have to wait a long time. At times it was stressful if only 1 nurse was available.

She was thorough and open. We liked her.We did not work with her for very long because we moved out of the area. She was personable and careful. We trusted her and would have continued with her if we had not moved. I don't remember having any problems with this practice. I don't think we ever felt hurried or ignored. I'm sure we would have gone on to the next option after we tried an unsuccessful insemination, but we moved.

She seemed very genuine. We had a good experience.

Covered by insurance

Most of the positive reviews for Dr. Abbasi are from a while ago. She does not seem to be keeping up with recent studies/literature, but got very defensive any time I asked her for data to support a decision or questioned why we would try something different. She refused to admit my second cycle was worse than my first even though I got fewer eggs and embryos.

I don't think anyone should got to Columbia Fertility period. There are better options within a few blocks in DC.

I always went first thing in the morning. I thought it was efficient at the time, but my current clinic is much better organized.

I paid out of pocket. The costs were typical for IVF, but I regret not going to another clinic because I would have required fewer cycles.

She knows her stuff regarding reproductive immunology.. I would highly recommend and trust her. She was willing to do immune testing on me even though i didn't do my ivf with her. She answers questions and seems to know her stuff

Get immune testing. She is experienced w that

Consult was covered so far