Success Rates
Pacific Northwest Fertility has become a leading fertility clinic by focusing on personalized patient care, innovation, meticulous attention to detail in the laboratory and the clinic, and optimal communication and teamwork between physicians, embryologists and nurses.
We have embraced new technologies, such as vitrification and pre-implantation genetic testing, before most other clinics so that our patients can enjoy their best chance of success.
PNWF IVF success rates have been consistently high since we opened our doors in 2005, in spite of our commitment to transferring just one embryo at a time. For the past few years, the average number of embryos transferred has been 1.1 to 1.3 for all treatments and for all ages. Our goal is always a healthy mother and baby, which is best achieved by avoiding the substantial medical risks of multiple pregnancies.
Success Rates
Success rates are reported annually by Pacific NW Fertility and most American fertility clinics to the Center for Disease Control and to the Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology.
These data are now very difficult to interpret because programs differ dramatically in their practices regarding freezing all of the embryos vs. fresh transfers, chromosomal screening and embryo banking.
SART Data Highlights*
*Most recent complete SART data (2022)
Your PNWF physician will be happy to walk you the complexities of reported success rates and help you apply them to your personal medical history. We want you to have an honest assessment of your chance of taking home a baby.
Please note: A comparison of clinic success rates may not be meaningful because a patient’s medical characteristics, treatment approaches and entrance criteria for ART may vary from clinic to clinic. To learn more visit www.sart.org
Understanding Success Rates
Understandably, patients want to compare clinics’ success rates as they make a final decision about where to pursue treatment. But comparing clinics solely using this data is discouraged by SART because of the complexities of infertility treatments and each clinic’s differing approach to care. Though success rates are meticulously reported annually by most American clinics to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), and to the Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology (SART), the ever-changing field of infertility can make the data difficult to understand.
Pacific NW Fertility is committed to the ideal of one healthy baby at a time while many clinics are willing to transfer multiple embryos to achieve a pregnancy despite the well-documented risks of multiples. Twin births, a common outcome after transferring two or more embryos during IVF, have higher rates of birth defects, maternal health problems and complex disorders and diseases. Because of these risks, Pacific NW Fertility strongly encourages patients to transfer one embryo at a time. That well-advised caution can show up in success rates’ data but is easily misunderstood by patients trying to make sense of all of the numbers. And this is only one example of how the approach to care affects success rates.
The success rate we are most concerned with is your personal success rate. Your Pacific NW Fertility physician will be happy to walk you through these complexities and provide you with an honest assessment of your statistical chances of achieving your goal of taking home a baby based on maternal age, overall health, sperm quality, and a host of other factors.
Disclaimer About Success Rates
A program’s success is attributed to a variety of factors including the experience and dedication of the physician and laboratory teams, individualized IVF protocols, as well as laboratory conditions and techniques. A comparison of clinic success rates may not be meaningful because patient medical characteristics and treatment approaches may vary from clinic to clinic.
Reputable U.S. fertility programs follow the guidelines of the Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology (SART) to report success rates. SART has developed a national database for reporting fertility treatment outcomes. The report is generated by SART and published by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). This system assures consistency in reporting clinic outcomes around the country. For more information, see the CDC website.
Pacific NW Fertility does report all pregnancy and live birth success rates to the Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology (SART), later published by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). While the data is readily available for the public’s review online, the data is not a reliable way to assess a laboratory’s overall success.
Pacific NW Fertility follows guidelines on number of embryos transferred that are set forth by the American Society of Reproductive Medicine (ASRM).
NOTE: A clinical pregnancy rate at Pacific NW Fertility is defined as a positive fetal heart tone confirmed under ultrasound guidance at 7 weeks.
