We are proud of our success rates at the UCSF Center for Reproductive Health. They are the culmination of an integrated process of caring for our patients and supporting them with compassion, expertise and innovation.

Often when choosing a fertility provider, individuals will try to compare programs based on success rates. Many clinics and IVF programs publish "success rates" even though the CDC and the Society for Assisted Reproduction (SART) recognize that direct comparisons between clinics may not be possible without considering the patient population and the practice style. Rates may vary, for example, due to cancellation policies, the number of embryos transferred, etc. Therefore, it is not possible to compare programs in a head-to-head manner. 

We do recognize, however, that individuals and couples would like the assurance that they are choosing a “successful” program and so we are providing the following information to you as a starting point to evaluate our program. Please keep in mind that your particular success rate may differ due to a variety of individual factors which may increase or decrease your chances for success. Questions regarding success rates are best discussed with your individual reproductive endocrinologist.

Programs vary greatly in the screening process they utilize for patients prior to an IVF cycle and in deciding whether a couple should cycle or whether an oocyte donor is advised. Additionally, programs vary in their decisions regarding the number of embryos to transfer and the value they place on the risk of avoiding multiple gestations. Thus, a center-by-center comparison of results is not valid. UCSF prides itself, however, on being very inclusive. We aim to give patients the best estimate of their predicted success – yet leave the final decision as to whether to attempt IVF to the individual patient. We believe this patient autonomy supersedes any individual clinic goal to optimize success rates by limiting access.

Our Data

 

UCSF Clinical Pregnancy and Live Birth per Embryo Transfer from 2001 to 2008
Source: UCSF Center for Reproductive Health

• The above data includes 3,768 cycles with embryo transfer thatresulted in 1,349 live births;
• X-axis: use of donor eggs or women’s age by group;
• Y-axis: success rate per embryo transfer cycle;
• Clinical pregnancy is defined as viable fetal heart at the 6-7 week ultrasound examination.

The strongest predictor of success is a woman's age with the number of pregnancies decreasing across all age groups. As women get older, the health of any individual egg declines and the number of eggs available declines – both contribute to the decreases in success rates and emphasize the importance of stimulation response.  Additionally, as women get older, the chance for pregnancy loss (miscarriage) increases such that the live birth/cycle will decline even further.  Below is a graphical display of our most recent success rate data.

UCSF Clinical Pregnancies per Embryo Transfer in 2009
Age Groups	Donor Egg	<=34	35-37	38-40	41-42	>=43
# of cycles with embryo transfer	74	108	141	203	90	48
% of cycles with clinical pregnancy	73.0%	54.6%	39.0%	38.9%	25.6%	18.8%
Source: UCSF Center for Reproductive Health

As with all programs, we also submit our statistics yearly to the Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology (SART). 

Please click here to view our success rates on the web site SART.Com

 

The UCSF Center for Reproductive Health, located in Northern California's San Francisco Bay Area offers a comprehensive array of infertility evaluation and treatment options for both men and women. Our services include: Infertility Evaluation, Male Reproductive Health, Fertility Preservation, Reproductive Surgery, Tubal Reversal Surgery, In Vitro Fertilization (IVF), Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection (ICSI), Pre-implantation Genetic Diagnosis (PGD), Intrauterine Insemination (IUI), Ovulation Induction, Donor Sperm Insemination, Egg Donor Program for Donors, Egg Donor Program for Recipients, Embryo Donation Program for Donors, Embryo Donation Program for Recipients, Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS), Recurrent Pregnancy Loss, Gestational Surrogacy, Genetic Screening and Counseling Psychological Support.