Dr Laurentiu Craciunas completed the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) extensive specialty training programme in Obstetrics and Gynaecology and achieved subspecialty certification in Reproductive Medicine.
Laurentiu pursued his interest in early miscarriage through a fellowship at Tommy’s National Centre for Miscarriage Research in Birmingham where he developed a deep understanding of the potential causes of miscarriage, their investigation and management options based on the most up to date evidence (research) and international guidelines.
In addition to providing assisted conception treatments (IVF/ICSI) at Newcastle Fertility Centre, Laurentiu leads the Reproductive Endocrinology clinic where he manages hormonal problems with impact on fertility such as polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), hypogonadotropic hypogonadism, hyperprolactinemia, thyroid disorders, adrenal dysfunction, premature ovarian insufficiency.
At Royal Victoria Infirmary, Laurentiu manages patients with various general gynaecology problems including heavy periods, chronic pelvic pain, ovarian cysts, fibroids, menopausal symptoms.
Surgically, Laurentiu undertakes a broad range of minimally invasive procedures both laparoscopically (such as excision of ovarian cysts, treatment of endometriosis, division of adhesions, salpingectomy, salpingostomy, hysterectomy) and hysteroscopically (such as excision of endometrial polyps and intrauterine fibroids, division of adhesions and uterine septum, proximal tubal cannulation for blocked tubes).
In parallel with his clinical and academic activity, Laurentiu has a tight collaboration with the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology (ESHRE) through various roles such as ESHRE Ambassador, member of the Communications Committee, founding member of ESHRE’s journal club with monthly editions on Twitter under the hashtag #ESHREjc, member of the editorial board for ESHRE’s magazine Focus on Reproduction, Junior and Senior Deputy of the Special Interest Group on Early Pregnancy and Implantation.
Laurentiu is a strong advocate of evidence-based medicine and believes in personalised medicine within the boundaries of the most up to date research knowledge. He has contributed to international and national guidelines including ESHRE guideline on the number of embryos to transfer during IVF/ICSI and BFS guideline on prevention of OHSS.
Special interests
- Recurrent miscarriage and recurrent implantation failure
- Fertility preservation in oncology and transgender patients
- Complex assisted reproduction
- Reproductive genomics
- Personalised reproductive medicine
Research
Laurentiu was awarded a National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Academic Clinical Fellowship which supported him to undergo thorough training in research methodology by completing a Postgraduate Certificate in Clinical Research. He then underwent an MSc in Genomic Medicine at Newcastle University to expand his knowledge into molecular research, OMICS techniques and Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS) with a focus on the genomics of common and rare inherited diseases relevant to reproductive medicine.
During his fellowship at Tommy’s National Centre for Miscarriage Research, Laurentiu led an NIHR Clinical Research Network (CRN) Portfolio multicentre cohort study which formed the basis of his PhD in endometrial receptivity in the context of recurrent miscarriage.
Laurentiu has led and supervised multiple research projects that achieved publications in top peer reviewed journals. Due to his advanced critical appraisal skills, Laurentiu has been invited on Editorial boards of esteemed journals such as Human Reproduction Update and Cochrane Gynaecology and Fertility.
List of selected publications (full list on Google Scholar):
- Craciunas L, Gallos I, Chu J, Bourne T, Quenby S, Brosens JJ, Coomarasamy A. Conventional and modern markers of endometrial receptivity: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Hum Reprod Update. 2019; 25: 202-223.
- Craciunas L, Zdoukopoulos N, Vinayagam S, Mohiyiddeen L. Hormone therapy for uterine and endometrial development in women with premature ovarian insufficiency. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2022; 10: CD008209.
- Akhtar MA, Agrawal R, Brown J, Sajjad Y, Craciunas L. Thyroxine replacement for subfertile women with euthyroid autoimmune thyroid disease or subclinical hypothyroidism. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2019; 6: CD011009.
- Craciunas L, Tsampras N, Kollmann M, Raine-Fenning N, Choudhary M. Oxytocin antagonists for assisted reproduction. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2021; 9: CD012375.
Craciunas L, Tsampras N, Raine-Fenning N, Coomarasamy A. Intrauterine administration of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) for subfertile women undergoing assisted reproduction. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2018; 10: CD011537.
