Shady Grove Fertility Center Releases 2011 IVF Success Rates

Freezing Embryos Through Vitrification Dramatically Improves IVF Outcomes

ROCKVILLE, Md., July 23, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Shady Grove Fertility Center recently released in vitro fertilization (IVF) success rates for the year ending December 2011. The data is based on the pregnancy and delivery results of 4,489 fresh IVF cycles and 1,096 frozen embryo treatment cycles, making Shady Grove Fertility the largest IVF Center in the United States.

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Shady Grove Fertility has published these detailed statistics since the IVF Center opened in 1991.  Dr.  Michael Levy explains, "One of our primary goals is to help patients make more informed decisions about their infertility treatment and care. The statistics are broken down by number of cycles by age and pregnancy rates which allows patients to get a better sense of their individual chances of delivering a baby through treatment."

The major highlights of the 2011 statistics include:

• 62% clinical pregnancy rate and a 45% delivery rate per embryo transfer for women under 35 years of age.
• 48% clinical pregnancy rate and a 38% delivery rate per embryo transfer inclusive of all age groups.
• 63% clinical pregnancy rate and a 46% delivery rate per embryo transfer for IVF using donor eggs.
• 57% clinical pregnancy rate and a 45% delivery rate per transfer for patients using a frozen embryo (FET) to conceive in all age groups. 

"One of the most exciting clinical advances over the last five years has been in the area of egg and embryo vitrification. Vitrification is the process employed in the laboratory to freeze eggs and embryos.  An increased ability to freeze extra embryos from an IVF cycle can reduce the subsequent course of IVF treatment necessary to achieve a pregnancy.  These frozen embryos can be thawed at a later date in a treatment called Frozen Embryo Transfer (FET) thereby making more efficient use of all the embryos from the original cycle.

This is significant because FET cycles require less medication and a shorter timeframe to complete than a fresh IVF cycle, and at a fraction of the cost to the patient.   With the advancement of vitrification, the pregnancy and live birth rates are very comparable to traditional fresh IVF cycles giving patients another simpler treatment option should they not be successful with the fresh attempt or for patients that are successful and want to further grow their family in the future. 

Not everyone going through a fresh cycle will have embryos to freeze, however Shady Grove Fertility data shows that more than 40% of patients had average of 3.2 good quality blastocyst stage embryos to freeze. The clinical pregnancy rate per frozen embryo transfer (FET) is 57% across all age groups and the live birth rate per frozen embryo transfer across all age groups is 45%.

"The improved FET success rates are especially beneficial for patients paying out of pocket for treatment and for patients participating in the Shared Risk 100% Refund program," states Dr. Levy. "The Shared Risk program allows patients to pay one flat fee for up to six fresh IVF cycles and unlimited available FET cycles and receive a 100% refund if they do not take home a live baby as a result of treatment."

Another less obvious benefit of having the new and very successful option of using frozen embryos is a lower twin and high-order multiple birth rate.  Patients are more open to transferring fewer, often just one, embryos when they know they can pursue additional treatment with any available frozen embryos. 

"Shady Grove Fertility began an initiative in 2002 known as elective single embryo transfer (eSET), specifically to reduce the number of twin and multiples pregnancies.  Due in part to our exceptional laboratory techniques, we are now able to provide patients with an uncompromised chance of pregnancy while nearly eliminating the risk of twins or triplets," explains Dr. Levy.

"While the numbers presented in our reports are critically important to us and to our patients, our success at providing high quality ethical and personalized care to our patients is equally important," says Dr. Levy. "Our physicians, nurses and staff are dedicated to helping our patients achieve their goal of a healthy pregnancy and thus a healthy baby."

For a more detailed explanation of Shady Grove Fertility's success rates please visit our website. Prospective new patients can call 888-761-1967 to schedule and appointment or speak directly with one of our new patient specialist.

Shady Grove Fertility Center is the largest and one of the most progressive fertility and IVF Centers in the United States, producing pregnancy success rates that are consistently higher than the national averages.  Twenty-five reproductive endocrinologists, as well as PhD scientists, geneticist, and over 450 highly specialized staff care for the thousands of local, national and international patients who seek treatment through the Center each year. Shady Grove Fertility conducts clinical research in collaboration with the National Institutes of Health and is part of their subspecialty training Fellowship in Reproductive Endocrinology.  In addition to participating with 22 insurance plans, Shady Grove Fertility innovated a number of treatment and financial programs, such as Shared Risk 100% Refund Program, Multi-Cycle Discount Option for IVF, Shared Donor Egg, International Donor Egg, and Shared Help, to make treatment more affordable for more couples. Shady Grove Fertility is Celebrating 20 Years and 27,000 Babies Born. Shady Grove Fertility is a member of the Attain Fertility Network.

SOURCE Shady Grove Fertility Center