Advanced Fertility Center of Chicago Blog

In the United States it is very easy to investigate IVF success rates for all in vitro fertilization clinics

There are two websites that report IVF success rates annually to the public:

• CDC website (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
  • CDC is a US government agency
• SART website (Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology)
  • SART is an organization dedicated to the practice of IVF in the US
• Links to both of these sites that report IVF success rates

The CDC IVF Success Rate Report for 2008 report has not yet been released. In vitro fertilization statistics are currently available from the CDC for 1999 through 2007.

In late February 2010 the Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology (SART) released the IVF Success Rate Report for 2008 cycles.

The SART report is released every year on the web and is available to the public. Almost all reputable in vitro fertilization centers are members of SART. Members are required to submit their in vitro fertilization data annually. Each clinic has its own listing page that shows its success rates on the SART website.

To view any clinic’s success rates through SART:

1. Go to the SART website
2. Click on IVF Success Rate Reports
3. On the map, click the state that you are interested in.
4. A list of all reputable SART member clinics in that state comes up.
5. Click on any individual clinic – a page called “Clinic Contact Information” appears. At the bottom click the link next to “ART Data Report”. You will go to a page showing that center’s in vitro fertilization success rates for 2008.
6. To see the center’s IVF statistics from a previous year, use the pulldown menu at the upper left where it says “Select Year”.

Although clinics with low success rates don’t mention it, there are large differences in success rates between clinics

There are number of reasons for this, but the biggest difference between different clinics is the degree of quality control within the system.

Patients often ask me why our success rates are so high. The answer is simple. (continue reading…)

What are the issues with freezing eggs to preserve fertility?

Can you freeze eggs in an attempt to preserve fertility for a future pregnancy?

• Yes, egg freezing (oocyte cryopreservation) is being done – some women freeze eggs to try to reduce the impact of aging on fertility
• Success rates for IVF with fresh eggs are high in young women
• Success rates for IVF using frozen eggs are generally much lower – but are improving. This technology is rapidly evolving.

There is currently controversy about:

• Who should be offered egg freezing?
• What should women of different ages be told about their chances for having a baby with frozen eggs?
• Are women who freeze eggs well informed about the chances to have a baby in the future with their frozen eggs?

What do recent studies show regarding pregnancy success rates using frozen eggs?

Egg freezing is relatively new

• IVF with fresh eggs has reportedly resulted in the birth of about 3 million babies worldwide
• IVF with frozen eggs has resulted in the birth of about 2000 babies worldwide
• Studies continue to investigate whether the older “slow freezing” technology or the newer method of “vitrifying” eggs will be better

Older studies

• Studies from the 1990’s to early 2000’s showed pregnancy success rates with frozen eggs of about 2% to 10% (live birth rate per embryo transfer cycle).

Recent studies

• A recent study from an Italian group found similar fertilization and embryo development rates of vitrified versus fresh eggs. Vitrification is a relatively new freezing method.
  • This study involved 40 cycles in women (average age 35.5)
  • The ongoing pregnancy rate (beyond 12 weeks of pregnancy) with vitrified eggs was 30% per cycle.
  • This is a good rate since only 3 eggs can be inseminated under Italian law.
    • Study by L Rienzi, et al, Human Reproduction; January 2010

• A 2009 study of 23 IVF cycles using frozen eggs (average age 31.5)
  • There were 14 pregnancies, 1 miscarriage and 13 ongoing pregnancies (57% per transfer)
    • Study by J Grifo and N Noyes, Fertility and Sterility; May 2009

• A large multicenter Italian study compared IVF using fresh vs. frozen eggs
  • Italian IVF clinics tend to have lower success rates because only 3 eggs can be inseminated per cycle (by law)
  • They compared 2209 cycles with fresh eggs to 940 cycles with frozen eggs
  • The success rate was halved using frozen instead of fresh eggs
  • 748 thawing cycles in women less than 39 years old (average age 33.6)
    • Live birth rate per transfer with frozen eggs was 13.3% (age < 39)
  • 192 thawing cycles in women 39 and older (average age 40.5)
    • Live birth rate per transfer with frozen eggs was 8.1% (age 39+)
  • Study by A Borini et al, Fertility and Sterility; January 2010

(continue reading…)

Our society has undergone significant change since the 1960s. Women’s liberation is definitely a good thing. Women can now do pretty much anything that a man can do. However, the one thing that they cannot do is delay childbearing as long as a man can.

Our society has evolved and many women are pursuing advanced educations and career advancement – and delaying childbearing as a result. However, in general women should be more knowledgeable about the impact of delaying childbearing on fertility potential.

Fertility specialists know this is a problem. We commonly see women in their late 30s and early 40s that are very bright and well-educated who are surprised and very disappointed when told that it may be very difficult (or impossible) to get pregnant and have a baby using their own eggs.

I like to use a “garden” analogy when discussing infertility with patients. The uterine lining is the “garden”  and the embryos are the “plants”. As women age, the garden is rarely the problem – the plant is often the problem. This is why using donor eggs is so successful regardless of the age of the recipient woman. (continue reading…)

We know that chromosomal abnormalities in eggs are responsible for fertility problems – particularly when the woman is in her late 30s or 40s.

• An abnormal number of chromosomes is referred to as aneuploidy
• Aneuploidy causes the increased rate of miscarriage with aging
• Aneuploidy is responsible for most of the decline in fertility with advancing age (both with and without IVF)

In recent years research has shown the importance of a structure in the egg called the meiotic spindle. This spindle is involved with aligning chromosome pairs so proper division of pairs can occur during egg maturation.

• As women age they are more likely to have an abnormal spindle apparatus that does not efficiently line up chromosomes prior to division
• This causes a higher likelihood for an unbalanced chromosomal situation in the mature egg – and then in the embryo

A recently published study (referenced below) might help us to understand why some women have more chromosomally abnormal eggs at a given age. This study was performed in mice, but may well have relevance for human reproduction as well (in many ways we aren’t as different from mice as we might like). (continue reading…)

Age and female fertility and waiting to have babies

• A recent report on the average age at first childbirth from the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics showed that as of 2006, women in the US waited an average of 3.6 years longer to have their first baby, as compared to 1970.

• There is not enough discussion in our society about the effect of age on fertility.

• Women’s liberation is a good thing and women have made very significant advances over the past 40 years. Many women are pursuing advanced education and careers.

• However, there is a potential “disconnect” involved. Women are waiting longer to have children – but many are not educated about what that delay can do to their fertility.

These days, many couples try to have their first child when the woman is in her mid-to-late 30s. Some will get pregnant easily, and others end up needing fertility treatments. (continue reading…)

Octomom and IVF – before June of 2008

• In June of 2008, Nadya Suleman was a single, unemployed mother of 6 children
• According to reports, she was receiving some “public assistance”
• All six of her children were reportedly conceived through in vitro fertilization
• All 6 kids were under 7 years old, including 2 year old twins

Then, she does IVF again

• In June of 2008, her IVF doctor transferred 6 frozen-thawed embryos to her uterus.
• Apparently, all six embryos survived – and 2 split into identical twins – so she ended up with eight fetuses growing in her uterus.
• Nadya declined having a fetal reduction procedure. Reduction can be done to selectively reduce the number of fetuses.
• The vast majority octuplet pregnancies would be expected to result in death of all fetuses after a severely premature birth.
• In her case the pregnancy progressed to viability. All 8 babies were born (prematurely) in January of 2009.
• This is apparently only the second living set of octuplets ever born in the United States.

Public debate rages

• Is she a fit mother?
• Should the fertility specialist have been willing to treat her at all?
• How many embryos should the doctor have transferred to her uterus?
• Should a physician that transfers that many embryos to a 33-year-old be sanctioned – or even lose his medical license?
• Why doesn’t the government pass laws to control fertility doctors?

(continue reading…)

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a US government agency, has just released a preliminary version of its 2007 Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) Report. It expects to release the final version in December.

The Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology (SART) released its version of the report on 2007 IVF cycles several months ago. However, clinics are not required by law to report to SART. They are required to report to the CDC. Therefore, the CDC report shows success rates for more clinics than the SART report does.

The CDC report covers data from 430 fertility clinics. Over 142,000 assisted reproductive technology (or IVF) cycles were done at these “reporting clinics”.

There were (as always) some fertility clinics that broke federal law and refused to report their data. These IVF clinics are referred to as “non-reporting clinics”. If fertility doctors will go so far as to break federal law to keep their IVF outcome statistics from the public – those “non-reporting clinics” most likely have very low success rates.

Before you choose a fertility clinic for IVF – check success rates.

Links to both the CDC and the SART IVF success rate reports

See our IVF success rates

Learn about blastocyst transfer

Couples with infertility often need IVF to get pregnant.

What should they know about IVF clinic success rates?

• An interesting and unusual aspect of IVF is that there is a definitive outcome for each procedure.
• When an IVF cycle is done there is a baby born from it – or there is not. Therefore, keeping track of (and comparing) IVF live birth success rates is very straightforward.
• Medical treatments in general rarely have such “black and white” outcomes.
• Another unique aspect of IVF is that (in the US) all IVF clinics are required by federal law to report their in vitro fertilization success rates annually to the government. The CDC, a US government agency produces a report called the “Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) Report” detailing IVF success rates for all individual clinics.
• This report is commonly called the CDC IVF success rate report. It is released to the public on the web every year (usually in December or January).
• Another useful report, the SART report (Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology), is very similar to the CDC report – and it is released about a year earlier. However, clinics are not required by law to report to SART – so some clinics are not listed there.
• These 2 annual reports allow consumers to view and compare IVF success rates for reputable fertility clinics.

(continue reading…)