Couples considering IVF can best evaluate and compare in vitro fertilization clinics when they have a good understanding of the success rates at programs in their area.

Some IVF centers have low pregnancy success rates. Other centers may have high success rates, but also a high rate of triplet or higher pregnancies.

Couples considering IVF treatment should get a written statement of their clinic's recent success rates and evaluate them in relation to other clinics.

The four biggest variables affecting a program's IVF success rates are:

The quality of the laboratory environment and the skill of the embryology staff
The skill and experience of the reproductive endocrinologist doctor (fertility specialist)
The average number of embryos transferred per case
The cases taken on by the program for IVF treatment. There are "high-yield" patients and "low-yield" patients. Some couples are more likely to have successful IVF because of egg quantity and quality, female age, or other issues.

Some clinics push their in vitro fertilization success rates up by transferring high numbers of embryos. Whether this is good or bad for an individual couple depends on whether the couple conceives, and if so - how many fetuses have implanted in the uterus.

A program that transfers high numbers of embryos may have a high overall success rate, but will be likely to have a high rate of triplet or quadruplet pregnancies. These are very high risk pregnancies for the babies.

Triplet pregnancies should be prevented as much as possible. About 10-15% of triplet pregnancies (without fetal reduction) will result in delivery so early that there are no living children to take home from the hospital. In some other cases, the babies will survive but have long-term handicaps such as cerebral palsy or mental retardation. For quadruplets the risks are even higher.

Some IVF programs have 10-15% of their total pregnancies as triplets and higher order multiples. That is very high - too much harm is being done to justify the good. However, there is not universal agreement on what is an acceptable rate of triplet (and higher order) pregnancies (some would argue that there should be no triplets at all).

We believe in balancing the risk of failure with the risk for high-order multiple pregnancy by transferring relatively fewer but high quality embryos.

In women under 35, we transfer either 1 or 2 embryos (with few exceptions)
For women 35-38 we usually transfer 2
In women 39 to 40 we usually transfer 2 or 3, but most couples will choose 3
In women over 41 years old or older, we usually transfer 3 or 4 embryos

In our program, the appropriate number to transfer is decided on by the couple after a careful discussion with their physician regarding the apparent quality of their embryos and the estimated risks for failure and for multiple pregnancy in their case.

You should ask for written information on IVF success rates and multiple pregnancy rates from any infertility specialist clinic that you are considering for IVF services. These issues are critical, and you have a right to the information. Evaluate these issues carefully before deciding on a clinic for IVF.

Any IVF program can provide this important information - in writing. If they refuse, or make excuses about why they can't provide details in writing, you should consider going to another clinic - they probably have low success rates.

You should also insist on getting live birth rates, not "pregnancy rates". The way a "pregnancy" is defined can vary between clinics, but we all know exactly what a live birth is.

Both IVF pregnancy and live birth rates are tracked by all clinics and reported annually to the government by law in the US. Clinic specific live birth rates are released on the web annually by the US government in the CDC report, and by SART in their separate IVF success rate report.

Links to the CDC and SART sites with IVF live birth success rates for reputable IVF programs

See our IVF success rates

Differences between clinics for IVF pregnancy rates and triplet pregnancy rates

Information from the 1998 CDC report is summarized below to illustrate how different IVF success rates and triplet and higher pregnancy rates can be.

IVF Live birth success rates and triplet pregnancy rates using own eggs
1998 CDC data for Chicago, Illinois area clinics

IVF Success Rates, Triplet Pregnancy Rates, Chicago IL

The green columns show delivery rates per started "cycle" (started IVF ovarian stimulation) for women under 35 in 1998
The gold columns show delivery rates per egg retrieval procedure for women under 35 in 1998
The red columns show the percentage of pregnancies that were triplets (or higher) on early ultrasound for women under 35 in 1998
The black numbers above the columns show the value for that clinic's rate of triplet or higher pregnancies

A comparison of clinic success rates may not be meaningful because patient medical characteristics, treatment approaches and entrance criteria for ART may vary from clinic to clinic.

The graph above demonstrates how much IVF success rates and rates of triplet pregnancies can vary between clinics. The graph above represents the live birth rates and triplet pregnancy rates in 1998 for women under 35 at all Illinois IVF clinics that performed at least 20 cycles in that age group (CDC data). The 1998 data is now out of date, but we are using it to illustrate some important differences between IVF clinics.

The data on the far left of the graph - labeled "USA 1998 Avg" - represents the national averages. Numbers 1 through 18 show results from the Illinois IVF clinics. No clinics are identified here by name per ASRM and SART guidelines. We are not using this data here for "marketing". We have summarized the 1998 SART-CDC data here for public educational purposes.

It is also interesting to see that the clinics with the higher live birth rates do not necessarily have high percentages of triplet (and higher) pregnancy rates.

Some clinics with low success rates had very high percentages of triplet pregnancies, and some clinics with high success rates had a low percentage of triplets.

The ideal scenario for patients (and the babies) would be a 100% pregnancy success rate and 100% singleton pregnancies (no multiple pregnancies at all). The risks to the babies from complications of prematurity are substantial. These risks need to be taken seriously, by both the fertility specialist doctors and the couples with fertility issues.

Are there differences in egg donation success rates between clinics?

Information from the 2001 CDC IVF success rate report is summarized below.

Donor Egg IVF live birth rates
2001 SART data for Chicago, Illinois area egg donation programs

The columns in this chart show live birth rates per embryo transfer for 2001 donor egg cycles. The numbers above the columns show the rate at that specific clinic.

A comparison of clinic success rates may not be meaningful because patient medical characteristics, treatment approaches and entrance criteria for ART may vary from clinic to clinic.

Egg donation success rates can vary substantially between clinics. The graph above shows the live birth rates for 2001 donor egg cycles at all Chicago, Illinois area IVF clinics (performing at least 10 donor egg cycles).

The bar on the far left of the graph - labeled "USA 2001 Avg" - is the national average live birth rate for donor egg cycles for 2001 of 47.0%. Numbers 1 through 8 on the graph show success rates from donor egg programs in the Chicago area. The live birth rates ranged from 30% to 64% per embryo transfer procedure at these egg donation clinics.

Donor egg IVF is a situation that should be quite similar between clinics. Donors should be fertile and are generally under age 35 - these are supposed to be "the easy cases". However, large differences were shown in donor egg success rates between different centers.

See our egg donation success rates

Delivery rates by program vary greatly. Therefore, you should become an informed consumer. Discuss IVF success rates and delivery rates in detail with your doctor before you start a cycle. You should ask about their pregnancy and live birth success rates for couples similar to you. Ask them for a copy of their most recent SART results (or print their most recent results from the CDC or SART website and discuss them with your physician).

A program's success rates for 30 year old women are not relevant if you are 43. For example, unscrupulous infertility specialists might tell patients that they have a "40% pregnancy rate" - but they might "forget" to add that this is the "clinical pregnancy rate" (see above) for women under 35 with blocked tubes and at least 2 embryos transferred...

This is a competitive field, and not all physicians are completely honest.

One of the many benefits of the SART and the CDC collecting and publishing outcome data from IVF programs is that consumers of infertility services have some ability to verify their clinic's success rates.

Clinics that participate can be subjected to exhaustive auditing of medical records in their centers to confirm the pregnancy and live birth data that they have reported. Therefore, it is unlikely that a clinic would not be honest in their reporting to the government.

Some (very few) clinics refuse to submit their IVF success rate data to the US government (CDC) for validation and reporting. The most likely reason for not reporting is low pregnancy success rates. Be very wary of having IVF procedures performed at a clinic that does not report their data to the CDC.

At the very least, get a written statement from them showing their IVF live birth success rates - and ask your physician to sign at the bottom of the page, attesting to its accuracy. You might also also ask them why they refuse to submit their data to the government as required by federal law.

IVF Cost:

Our IVF cycle cost includes everything except medications for $9,500 (cash discounted price). The average charge for an IVF cycle in the US is over $11,000. It is important not to equate price with quality when it comes to IVF. Some IVF centers are expensive with low success rates.

We also have a 100% money-back guarantee and a Shared-Risk IVF cost option.

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