Assisted reproductive technology in the United States and Canada: 1991 Results from the Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology generated from The American Fertility Society registry

Objective: To summarize the procedures and outcomes of assisted reproductive technology (ART) initiated in the United States in 1991. Design: Data were collected on an annual summary form and submitted to the Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology generated from The American Fertility Society central registry. Participants: Two hundred fifteen programs submitted data on procedures performed in 1991. Data were collected in October of 1992 so that outcome of all pregnancies established would be known. Main Outcome Measures: The outcomes measured included clinical pregnancy, ectopic pregnancy, abortion, stillbirth, delivery, and congenital abnormality. Results: In 1991, programs reported initiation of 33,001 cycles of ART treatment, excluding frozen embryo and donor oocyte cycles. Of these, 24,671 cycles initiated were IVF with 15.2% deliveries per retrieval, 5,452 were cycles of GIFT with 26.6% deliveries per retrieval, and 2,104 were cycles of zygote intrafallopian transfer with 19.7% deliveries per retrieval, and 714 were combination cycles, combining IVF and one of the tubal transfer techniques, resulting in 19.3% deliveries per retrieval. In addition to these cycles initiated in 1991, 4,838 frozen embryo procedures were reported, either as separate procedures or in combination with another ART procedure with 11.1% deliveries per procedure, and 1,107 donor oocyte or surrogacy cycles were initiated with an overall success of 25.6% deliveries per retrieval. From all of these procedures, a total of 5,699 deliveries were reported. Conclusions: In 1991, there were more programs offering more treatment cycles of ART. Average success rates for most ART procedures exhibited a small increase compared with previously reported summaries.