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The Advanced Fertility Center of Chicago
In Vitro Fertilization - IVF Specialist Clinic
Gurnee & Crystal Lake, Illinois

This page is a discussion of IVF pregnancy success rates and what they really mean

• The quality of the laboratory environment and the skill and experience of the embryology staff
• The skill and experience of the reproductive endocrinologist doctor (fertility specialist)
• The average number of embryos transferred per procedure
• The cases taken on by the program for IVF treatment. There are "good" patients and "bad" patients in the sense that some couples are more likely than others to have success from IVF because of egg quantity and quality, female age, or other issues.
  

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Some programs are very aggressive and push their in vitro fertilization success rates up by transferring high numbers of embryos. Whether this is good or bad for the individual couple depends on whether the couple conceives, and if so - how many fetuses are present. A program that transfers high numbers of embryos may have a high overall success rate, but too many of these pregnancies will be triplets or quadruplets.

Triplet pregnancies are very high risk and need to be prevented as much as possible. About 5-15% 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, babies will survive but have long-term handicaps. For quadruplets the risks are even higher.

Some programs have 15-25% or more of their total pregnancies as triplets and higher order multiples. Our opinion is that that is too high - too much harm is being done to justify the good. Of course, 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 or higher at all).

Our philosophy is that the risk of triplets, quadruplets, etc. is too great to justify transferring high numbers of embryos. We believe in balancing the risk of failure with the risk for high-order multiple pregnancy by transferring relatively fewer high quality embryos. In women under 35, we transfer 1 or 2 embryos (with very few exceptions) - in women 35-39 we usually transfer 2 (sometimes 3). In women 40 and older, we usually transfer 2 or 3, but will sometimes transfer more - if the couple wants a higher chance for a pregnancy and is willing to take some additional risks for multiple pregnancy.

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

It is possible that in the near future, blastocyst transfer could essentially eliminate the problem of triplet and higher-order multiple pregnancies.

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

You should also insist on 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. Live birth rates are tracked and reported to the government by law in the US. Therefore, all in vitro fertilization programs have the live birth data if they have been doing IVF for at least 2 years. Live birth rates are used by the US government in the CDC report that is released on the web annually, and live birth rates are preferred by couples with infertility that are considering which IVF center to use. If a fertility clinic posts on its website or gives out only "pregnancy rates" and no "live birth rates" they probably have low live birth success rates - otherwise, why not put them on the web or have them available to hand out in the office? Ask your fertility clinic for live birth rates, or go to the CDC site and look them up. Links to the CDC site with live birth rates for all reputable US IVF programs are on our IVF success rates page.

Evaluate these issues carefully before deciding on a center for in vitro fertilization services.

IVF Success rates at other programs:  National data

The Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology (SART) used to publish in vitro fertilization success and delivery rates annually for IVF centers in the U.S. and Canada. The data is now being collected by SART (Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology) and published by the CDC (Center for Disease Control, a US government agency).

The national summary of IVF results for procedures done in 2004 were released in January 2007 and posted on the CDC's web site. Some of the information from the year 1998 report is summarized below. 

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

A comparison of clinic success rates may not be meaningful because patient medical characteristics and treatment approaches vary from clinic to clinic

This graph 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). This year 1998 data is now out of date, but we use it here to illustrate some of the difference 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 - that might be viewed as using the SART data for "marketing" - which this is not. The actual clinic specific data (and clinic names) is available for anyone to view in detail by going to the CDC web site and selecting the year 1998 report and then selecting the individual IVF clinics. 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 physicians and by the couples experiencing reproductive difficulties. A 100% success rate and no multiple births is pie in the sky for now - but we are working to move toward that ideal situation.

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

A comparison of clinic success rates may not be meaningful because patient medical characteristics and treatment approaches vary from clinic to clinic

Delivery rates by program vary greatly. They can range from less than 5% per transfer procedure to over 50%. This is why you need to become an informed consumer. Make sure that you 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 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 3 embryos transferred...

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

One of the many benefits of 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 on the CDC website. Clinics that participate can be subjected to exhaustive auditing of the medical records in their centers to confirm the pregnancy and live birth rate 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, although there could be other reasons. 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 his or her name at the bottom of the page, attesting to the accuracy of their claims. I suggest that you 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 $8800 (cash discounted price). The  average charge for an IVF cycle in the US is over $11,000. Many IVF centers charge $12,000 to $15,000 or more for IVF. It is important not to equate price with quality when it comes to IVF. Some IVF centers are expensive and have low success rates.

We also offer a 100% money-back guarantee and a Risk-sharing IVF cost pricing option for couples that qualify.