In the following text, you can find the success rates of medically assisted reproduction in the BetaPlus Center for 2017.
The total number of cycles started in 2018 was 517 of those 320 were IVF/ICSI cycles, 146 FET, and 51 inseminations. In these procedures, we achieved 147 pregnancies. This is a success rate of 28%, per every woman that started any cycle in BetaPlus Center, and we are very proud of it.
Fresh IVF/ICSI procedures
Of 320 fresh IVF/ICSI cycles, in 93 patients we did not perform embryo transfer:
- In 20 patients we cryopreserved all embryos (“freeze all” embryos) due to the prevention of ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (6.2%)
- In 27 (8.4%) patients we terminated the cycle before aspiration because of the poor follicle development
- In 21 (6.5%) procedures the oocytes were not obtained,
- In 20 (6.2%) patients there was no fertilization
- In 5 (1.5%) patients embryo development was arrested
Patients that did not have aspiration or did not get oocytes during the aspiration had mostly advanced age and very low ovarian reserve. Patients whose oocytes did not fertilize or whose embryo development was arrested had various infertility causes.
In fresh IVF/ICSI cycles, there were 227 embryo transfers in total. There were 7 multiple pregnancies (3%), and one ectopic pregnancy, while there were no hospitalizations due to the ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome. In the stimulated procedures last year there were 11 biochemical pregnancies and 10 spontaneous miscarriages.
Better chances for successful treatment had younger patients, with a higher number of oocytes collected and a higher number of embryos for cryopreservation, hence better chances for embryo cryopreservation and transfer on day 5 when embryos are more advanced with development. The data are presented in the table below.
| IVF/ICSI | Pregnancy | Number (N) | Mean value | Standard deviation (SD) | Statistical significance |
| Age | Yes | 74 | 35,64 | 4,372 | |
| No | 246 | 36,90 | 4,529 | YES | |
| Partner age | Yes | 74 | 37,01 | 5,560 | |
| No | 246 | 38,67 | 5,139 | YES | |
| No oocytes retrieved | Yes | 74 | 7,14 | 4,039 | |
| No | 246 | 4,87 | 4,808 | YES | |
| No cryopreserved embryos | Yes | 74 | 1,18 | 1,591 | |
| No | 246 | 0,65 | 1,417 | YES | |
| No transferred embryos | Yes | 74 | 1,89 | 0,538 | |
| No | 246 | 1,15 | 1,032 | YES | |
| Embryo transfer day | Yes | 74 | 3,46 | 1,100 | |
| No | 246 | 3,10 | 0,916 | YES |
Frozen embryo transfer (FET)
Of 146 cryo embryo transfers planned in 2017, transfer was not performed in 7 women due to poor stimulation response or other reasons.
In the remaining 71 patients FET was performed (six embryo transfers on day 3 and 65 blastocysts), and in 68 FET procedures, two embryos were transferred (12 embryos on day 3 and 56 blastocysts). In patients that had single blastocyst transfer, we had 30 pregnancies (46.1%), while in patients with two blastocysts transfer 31 pregnancies (55.3%).
In FET procedures with two blastocysts transferred, there were 7 twin pregnancies (12.5%). There were 16 biochemical pregnancies, 13 spontaneous miscarriages, and one heterotopic pregnancy (one embryo develops in the uterus and one outside the uterus), that unfortunately did not end in the birth of the baby.
Insemination (AIH)
The insemination procedure started in 51 women in total, in 4 women the procedure was not performed due to various reasons, hence with insemination, we treated 47 patients. We achieved 10 pregnancies, and 2 were spontaneous miscarriages. This year was the most successful regarding the patients that had insemination procedure, we suppose this is due to the strict patient filtering for the procedure.
| Fresh cycle (by women’s age) | <35 | 35-37 | 38-40 | 41-42 | 43-44 | >44 |
| Number of cycles 2017 | 102 | 70 | 83 | 31 | 29 | 5 |
| Number of embryo transfers 2017 | 70 | 50 | 61 | 22 | 20 | 4 |
| Number of pregnancies 2017 | 27 | 20 | 17 | 5 | 5 | 0 |
| Success rate by embryo transfer in 2017 (%) | 38,6 | 40,0 | 27,9 | 22,7 | 25 | 0 |
| Cryo procedures | ||||||
| Number of cryo embryo transfers 2017 | 58 | 30 | 36 | 7 | 4 | 4 |
| Number of pregnancies from cryo embryo transfers 2017 | 30 | 15 | 13 | 2 | 2 | 1 |
| Success rate by cryo embryo transfer 2017 (%) | 51,7 | 50,0 | 36,1 | 28,6 | 50 | 25 |
| IUI | ||||||
| Number of inseminations 2017 | 25 | 12 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| Number of inseminations 2017 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Success rate by insemination 2017 (%) | 20,0 | 25,0 | 33,3 |
The success rate of mild stimulation for IVF/ICSI
We have a contract with Croatian Health Insurance Fund (HZZO) mostly for mild stimulation for IVF/ICSI, last year we had 64 of them. Embryo transfer was performed in 55 women. The success rate is reported in the table below.
| Mild stimulations | <35 | 35-37 | 38-40 | 41-42 | 43-44 | >44 |
| Number of embryo transfers 2017 | 25 | 14 | 11 | 1 | 3 | 1 |
| Number of pregnancies 2017 | 9 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Success rate by embryo transfer 2017 (%) | 36 | 28,6 | 18,2 | 0 | 33,3 | 0 |
We want to emphasize that in some patients mild stimulation is an appropriate choice, although it has a lower success rate in fresh IVF/ICSI cycles than standard stimulation. In younger patients (below 35) with higher AMH levels (above 25 pmol/l) mild stimulations reduce the risk of ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome, while simultaneously they have high chances for embryo cryopreservation, and cumulative in they will achieve pregnancy in one mild stimulation cycle. Moreover, as you can see from the success rate, women younger than 35 years, even with normal ovarian reserve, have a high chance of pregnancy in one cycle with mild stimulation.
In women with advanced age, mild stimulation is used because it gives a similar number of oocytes for fertilization and pregnancy chance as the standard stimulation; however, we recommend the exchange of mild and standard protocols.
