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Reproductive Endocrinology & Infertility

Success Rates of Our IVF Program

The Johns Hopkins Fertility Center is a member of the consortium of IVF programs which submits all results of assisted reproductive technology procedures to the Society of Assisted Reproductive Technology (SART) of The American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM). These data are published, as required by Federal legislation. Our data, as well as the data of other programs, are retrievable through SART. It is risky to compare data from one ART program to another, as many uncomparable factors influence the outcomes. Data regarding our program is also available on request. These reflect the most recent results in any given time period during which our ART program is operating.

It is confusing and difficult for couples embarking upon a course of IVF to understand success rates. Success rates of the IVF procedure are greatly deppendent upon many variables. First and foremost is the reason for the couple's infertility. Some forms of infertility lend themselves to better outcomes with IVF than do others. The age of the woman undergoing IVF enters into the equation. The quality of the IVF laboratory, the techniques used by the clinicians, the number of eggs retreived, the number of eggs fertilized, and the number of embryos transferred as well as the quality of the cryopreservation procedure all factor into the success of any given IVF procedure. Success rates of each program depend to a great extent upon the characteristics of the patient population whom the program serves. Any program which deals with a large number of patients over the age of 40 will have less favorable success rates than those with younger patients. In addition, patients with unexplained infertility will often have a more favorable outcome than those with significant pathology. It is quite possible that some patients with "unexplained infertility" would have conceived on their own if given enough time.

Success rates are reported in several fashions:

The pregnancy rate per cycle reflects the number of pregnancies using the number of treatment cycles as the denominator. This figure does not take into consideration patients whose treatment cycles are canceled before a retrieval is carried out.
Second, pregnancy rate per retrieval expresses the number of women conceiving with the number of retrievals as the denominator.
Pregnancy rate per transfer uses the number of transfer procedures as the denominator, but excludes failed retrievals and cycles in which fertilization of retrieved eggs failed to occur.

Another concept is important, namely, the distinction between clinical pregnancies and chemical pregnancies. Whenever a woman begins the IVF process, she considers the "take home baby rate" and not her chance to have a chemical pregnancy in which the pregnancy test is positive but does not materialize as a pregnancy. Furthermore, "take home babies" also excludes clinical pregnancies which end in miscarriage or tubal ectopic pregnancies.