Ottawa’s own Dr. Leiva was featured in a TIME magazine article about ovulation kits very recently. Dr. Leiva has and is helping advance the cause of women’s health and the struggle with infertility through his research, of which he has done quite a lot. This is important because there is not enough work done to help women understand their own fertility and their own cycles particularly as concerns infertility. Now Dr. Leiva wants to bring a urinary ovulation confirmation test to Canada.
From Dr. Leiva:
Approximately one in six couples in Ontario have experienced infertility at some point in their lives. Infertility can cause extreme emotional, physical and financial burden to those who experience it. However, forty percent of couples who seek infertility services conceive without treatment. To improve a couple’s chance for conceiving naturally, it is necessary to confirm when ovulation occurs. Confirmation that ovulation has occurred can only be done by performing a blood test for serum progesterone test or by serial transvaginal ultrasound. However, both of these investigations require visits to a physician, specialized laboratory testing, and in the case of ultrasound high costs and logistical demands. A simple home-based pregnanediol-3a-glucuronide (PdG) urinary test to confirm ovulation has been developed but is not yet approved for use in Canada. The PdG urinary test works by measuring urine for a marker of Progesterone, which is a hormone that rises sharply only after ovulation. If shown to be as effective in confirming ovulation, this test would provide much more convenient way for women and clinicians to confirm ovulation and determine fertility bringing great empowerment to couples.
So what’s my point with this post? Dr. Leiva is seeking $15,000 to do this small study to advance the cause of bringing this ovulation kit to Canada. He is working with the Bruyère Foundation, which is a registered Canadian charity and they are happy to issue tax receipts for all donations over $10.
When making a donation whether online, phone or mail; it is very important to write or mention to be assigned to “Fertility Study/Dr. Rene Leiva”
Please donate. And let others know about this cause. It’s very worthwhile, advancing women’s health in Canada.
If you have questions about this, please message me and I can find out and/or put you in touch with Dr. Leiva for more information.
Hurray for good research!
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Someone wrote me and asked whether this isn’t already on the market as she thought she was using such a thing.. Here’s the answer to that question.
This is the test Dr. Leiva is doing research on: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06WD4CRLZ/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=mfbfertility-20&camp=1789&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=B06WD4CRLZ&linkId=fac86457ab58c67719a2c5efdbbc64ff
“The first batch came late in the Fall it was poor quality, the second batch is much better and it is currently marketed. It has not been approved by Health Canada nor tested in any clinical trial. It is the latter which is my goal. Even if it is on the market, in order to be accepted by doctors, it needs to have the evidence that it works. That is why the clinical study is valuable.”