Favorable pregnancy, delivery, and implantation rates experienced in embryo donation programs in the United States.

OBJECTIVE

To document the numbers of donated frozen ETs performed and the pregnancy, birth, and embryo implantation rates seen in four infertility clinics and three embryo donation agencies in the United States.

DESIGN AND SETTING

Case series. Four infertility clinics and three embryo donation agencies in the United States contributed data from their first year of available information through calendar year 2006. The programs reported numbers of donated frozen ETs, numbers of pregnancies delivered from these transfers, and numbers of these pregnancies lost to miscarriage or stillbirth. For each pregnancy, the programs reported the number of gestational sacs identified and the number of resulting live births.

PATIENT(S): N/A.

INTERVENTION(S): N/A.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S): Pregnancy rate, delivery rate per ET, implantation rate, live birth rate per embryo transferred, and "implantation potential" (gestational sacs identified per embryo thawed).

RESULT(S): These programs performed 702 ETs, resulting in 314 clinical pregnancies (44.7%) and 249 deliveries (35.5%). With 3,103 embryos thawed and 2,078 embryos transferred, the programs experienced an implantation rate of 19.9%, an implantation potential of 11.8%, and a live birth rate per embryo transferred of 15.0%.

CONCLUSION(S): In this largest case series yet published, the pregnancy, delivery, and implantation rates for embryo donation compare favorably with rates reported from autologous IVF procedures.