What is the success of assisted reproduction treatment?

Assisted reproduction techniques are now a great ally for women or couples who want to start a family but are unable to do so using conventional methods.

Once they have decided to go to a fertility clinic (see here for when we recommend going to a fertility clinic), the first question they ask themselves is: what are the success rates of these treatments?

The most common techniques used in fertility clinics to achieve pregnancy are: artificial insemination, in vitro fertilisation and in vitro fertilisation with donated eggs or egg donation.

The choice of one technique or another will depend on the problem that is preventing pregnancy from occurring naturally.

What are the success rates of fertility treatments?

We would like to say that these treatments are 100% effective, but the reality is different. Factors such as the woman’s age or the problem associated with infertility mean that there are varying chances of treatment success.

What we can say is that the success rates of the past are nothing like those of today. Reproductive medicine is advancing by leaps and bounds year after year, and with it, the chances of pregnancy.

SEF data

To talk about these rates, you first need to know that all centres dedicated to reproductive medicine send the results of the treatments they carry out annually to the Spanish Fertility Society (SEF), which in turn sends them to the Ministry of Health.

In addition to seeing the results of each of the centres that collaborate with this information separately, the SEF calculates the average of all the centres together, which is what we will show you alongside our results.

There are two concepts that we must clarify with regard to pregnancy rates, which are:

Pregnancy rate per cycle, here we refer to the probability of achieving pregnancy after a single attempt.

Cumulative Pregnancy Rate: this is the probability of achieving pregnancy, including subsequent transfers of frozen or cryopreserved embryos from the same cycle.

Below are tables showing the success rates of the treatments we perform in our unit compared to the national average from the SEF registry.

In vitro fertilisation with own oocytes:

In vitro fertilisation or IVF consists of extracting the woman’s oocytes (after ovarian stimulation) and fertilising them in the laboratory with the partner’s sperm (or from a sperm bank, depending on the case). After a few days of development in the laboratory, we transfer the embryo or embryos to the future mother through an embryo transfer.

In most cycles, we obtain more embryos than we transfer. When this happens, the embryos are frozen by vitrification and stored in our banks for later use.

In vitro fertilisation                                 <35 years old 35-39 years old >40 TOTAL
Pregnancy rate per cycle SEF                20.60% 19.10% 9.60% 17.20%
Pregnancy rate per cycle URE               44.26% 33.89% 26.26% 34.25%
Cumulative SEF rate                                46.10% 36.50% 18.30% 34.70%
Cumulative URE rate                               66.66% 40.21% 27.45% 42.89%

In vitro fertilisation with donated eggs or egg donation:
Egg donation allows women who cannot use their own eggs and/or have no other better options to fulfil their desire to become mothers. This assisted reproduction technique is the same as IVF, with the difference that instead of using the patient’s eggs, those of a donor are used.

Egg donation <35 years old 35-39 years old >40 TOTAL
Pregnancy rate per cycle SEF 37.20% 37.50% 33.50% 34.50%
URE pregnancy rate 83.33% 62.96% 69.87% 68.96%
SEF cumulative rate 72.20% 76.30% 69.20% 70.60%
Cumulative rate URE 100.00% 73.33% 85.00% 83.00%

Artificial insemination by husband (AIH):

Artificial insemination is one of the assisted reproduction treatments we recommend to patients with fertility problems with no apparent cause.

It is a minimally invasive procedure. After a small ovarian stimulation, ultrasound monitoring of follicular development and ovulation induction, the spouse’s ejaculate is treated to obtain the optimal sperm for inseminating the woman. Here you can find some frequently asked questions about this treatment.

IAC                                                 <35 years old 35-39 years old >40
Pregnancy rate per cycle           SEF 12.80% 13.00% 10.30%
Pregnancy rate per cycle           URE 18.00% 14.00% 0.00%
Cumulative rate                          URE 28.00% 18.00% 0.00%

Here, the cumulative rate, known as the pregnancy rate per patient, refers to the pregnancy rate after several successive attempts (cycles) (maximum 3).

Artificial insemination with donor semen (AID)

The procedure is exactly the same as for AIC, with the difference that the semen comes from a donor and the semen sample is frozen. The treatment for sperm selection is the same.

AID                                          <35 years old 35-39 years old >40
Pregnancy rate per cycle     SEF 22.00% 18.00% 11.00%
Pregnancy rate per cycle     URE 43.00% 25.00% 13.00%
Cumulative rate                    URE 50.00% 45.00% 14.00%

As you can see, at URE Centro Gutenberg we can be proud that we exceed the national average in all the treatments carried out by our unit.

Our 35 years of exclusive dedication to fertility treatments and our status as the leading clinic in Malaga in terms of number of cycles, with a first-class team that is constantly updating its knowledge and a laboratory equipped with the latest technology on the market, make these results possible and ensure that 95% of our patients leave happy and rate us as excellent.

Are you thinking about making your first fertility appointment? Get in touch with us, we will be happy to assess your case in a free initial consultation with one of our specialist doctors.