SART and IVF Success Rates
As you begin your fertility journey, it is helpful to know the success rates of reproductive clinics. Knowledge about the total number of births per cycle, or births with donor eggs can prove helpful when deciding which clinic to use. In the United States, all fertility clinics are mandated to report their success rates to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) but many clinics also voluntarily report data to the Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology (SART). Here is a guide to help you better understand the information presented in SART.
Benefits of Reporting to SART
SART collects detailed information from clinics, audits the information, and presents the information to patients in a thoroughly transparent fashion. In fact, SART engages a third-party agency to audit clinics to make sure that the information presented is accurate and precise.
The world of Assisted Reproductive Technologies and In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) has become increasingly complicated, and presenting realistic expectations to patients has become an essential function of the Society.
How SART Data is Presented
Success rates are presented in two types of SART Clinical Summary Reports (CSRs). The national CSR displays a summary of all data from all reporting clinics, allowing patients to see national success rates broken out by category, while clinic-specific reports contain data from just one clinic.
A successful IVF treatment results in the birth of a single full term healthy baby. This goal is achieved by combining optimal treatment and the most up to date technology. SART recently redesigned its report to include new practices such as embryo cryopreservation (embryo freezing), genetic testing, and elective single embryo transfer (eSET). Success is reported for all cycles that are initiated and then again for completed cycles.
What is a Cycle?
A cycle is defined as the time when a woman has started medications for the purpose of having an IVF procedure. For those women who do not need medications, the cycle is defined as the first day of her menstrual cycle when she is planning to have a procedure done that month. Each cycle is counted when calculating the pregnancy rate. Counting each cycle rather than each embryo transfer, more accurately reflects the treatment burden and costs the patient has to potentially endure.
Cycles, however, may be cancelled and never get to egg retrieval or embryo transfer. A cycle may be cancelled because of an inadequate egg supply, poor embryo and/or uterine lining development, or because the embryos were frozen and intended to be implanted at a later time. Patients should review the cancellation rates for other patients their age to understand the chance of successfully completing a cycle of IVF at that clinic.
Success Rate Categories and What They Mean
Live Births Per Intended Egg Retrieval (All Embryo Transfers)
- What is the chance of a live birth with an intended egg retrieval
Live Births Per Intended Egg Retrieval (First Embryo Transfer)
- What is the chance of a live birth with an intended egg retrieval and the first embryo transfer, if any
Live Births Per Second or Later Embryo Transfer
- What is the chance of a live birth from a frozen transfer, not including the first intended transfer or occurring more than 12 months after retrieval
Live Births Per New Patient
- What is the chance of a live birth doing IVF as a new patient in a clinic
Using Advanced Treatments to Increase Success
To increase the chances of achieving a successful pregnancy, especially in women over 40, it is important to have information about the embryo’s genetic makeup. Advanced clinics offer preimplantation genetic testing (PGT), which is the ability to biopsy a few cells from the blastocyst stage of the embryo and test the genetic competence. In some cases this information may not be available until the next cycle so there may be no pregnancy from the retrieval cycle and the pregnancy will occur in a subsequent cycle after the embryos are frozen. The use of PGT will be reflected in a high pregnancy rate per transfer with a low pregnancy rate per cycle initiated. Programs that routinely perform PGT can have lower pregnancy rates per cycle initiated, but exceptional rates per transfer because only normal embryos are transferred.
What these Data Mean to you as a Patient
The statistics reported by SART offer a window into a clinic’s success. The number of cycles performed, the willingness to take on tough cases, and the goal of transferring single embryos by assessing embryos for genetic competence and achieving a healthy baby at term are all factors you should consider when choosing an IVF center.
RMA of New York proudly participates in providing data to SART and promotes the use of advanced technologies such as single embryo transfer and PGT. Learn more about RMA of New York’s success rates and the treatment options available to you.